Ghosts of the Past
by DenZatz
Summary: Haiiden knew why he wanted to become a Huntsman. It was all he ever thought and dreamed about ever since the memory was burned into his mind and his very soul; a small child, a woman in white, and a fire that had burned out long ago.
1. 1-1: To be a Huntsman

**RWBY: Ghosts of the Past** **  
** **Volume 1, Chapter 1: To Be a Huntsman** **  
** **By DenZatz** **  
** **Edited by: Gamera Obscura and DarthDakka**

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES: For potential new readers, just a few messages from me, the author. This will be an AU story to some extent. What I mean is that the story will follow the canon events up until volume 3, and that is where the story will begin to diverge from canon. Until then, canon events will still occur, but instead, they will be seen through the eyes of OCs. My reasoning for this is that the premise and idea of the story I had in mind can only be best explained through the introduction of new characters.**

 **As for the characters themselves, be forewarned, some might not have colored first names. My reasoning for this was... well... when I first began to write this story, I was unaware of the color name rule. I was about done with my first volume when I realized it, but it was too late, and since I committed to the names, I thought I'd just keep it. The story will be slow at first, but that is because the idea I had in mind was to make the story into a sort of novel. It will be long, so it would give me some time to flesh things out.**

Vaughn dropped his duffle bag onto the polished marble floors of Beacon's empty auditorium with a loud thud, which reverberated through and echoed through its walls. He knelt down with a sigh and unzipped the bag; the inside contained water bottles, towels, as well as loaded Dust cartridges, snug in their magazines. He lowered his arm and allowed his Atlesian rifle to slide off his shoulder which he had attached to a carbon fiber strap.

He reached into the bag and picked up one of the cartridges after snapping it out of a magazine, which had a faint white glow to it, and inserted it into his weapon, which locked with a ' _click_ '. As he stood, a pair of light footsteps echoed behind him and without turning, he addressed the figure.

"CFVY should be here in a moment; how are you feeling, sis?" Vaughn said, as he stood straight and neutral; his finger resting over the trigger guard of his weapon.

"I'll be fine," she replied, as she tugged on her gloves to make sure they were a snug fit before she reached back and grabbed hold of her claymore; drawing it quickly and with a huff.

Vaughn curiously turned his head and peeked at his sister from the corner of his eye and caught the name tag that was embroidered over the left breast of her uniform: Cecilia. His gaze then wandered to her posture; she stood with her fist tightened and shoulders back as she gripped the handle of her sword tightly.

"Are you sure?" Vaughn asked as he turned his body to face her and was about to take a step towards her, before she turned her towards him and scowled.

"Yes, Vaughn," Cecilia replied with a hiss which caused Vaughn to take a step back and upon noticing her brother's pause, she took a deep breath as she closed her eyes.

"Sorry," she said before she turned away and faced the entrance to the auditorium.

"You don't have to be sorry," Vaugh replied, standing straight again and faced forward, parallel to his sister. "The loss of a teammate is a hard thing to get over."

"I just want to forget about it, and get started on the new year," Cecilia replied, as she again, took in a deep breath, at which Vaughn took another peek and noticed that she had relaxed her posture.

The doors to the auditorium opened and the two siblings watched as the familiar faces of a fashionista, a giant, a rabbit-girl and a dark-skinned man entered the room.

"Punctual as always, I see," Coco commented while she removed her sunglasses and dropped her handbag onto the floor with a much louder thud.

"You ready to start?" Cecilia asked.

"Always," Coco replied, as she pointed at the giant who stepped up to her side. "So, do you mind going up against me and Yatsuhashi first?"

"Doesn't matter," Cecilia replied as she rolled her shoulders to loosen herself. "As long as we get to let loose and blow off some steam. This summer was _not_ fun."

"Oh, still upset about-" Velvet began to respond, but was interrupted by Vaughn, who was waving his hand at her as he signaled for her to cut it out. As he signaled her, she looked back at Cecilia, who had her eyes shut tight and her brows furrowed in frustration.

"Oh, sorry," Velvet concluded as she stepped back and joined Fox, who sat with his arms crossed.

"I don't want to talk or think about this any more, okay?" Cecilia replied, and looked up at Velvet. She was not the object of Cecelia's frustration, and she smiled lightly at Velvet. "I am just here to let loose, and maybe have a bit of fun."

Coco stared at Cecilia for a moment before shaking her head, and put her glasses back on; pushing it up to the top of her nose with her middle finger.

"So where is Zed?" Velvet spoke up again.

"He is out in Vale, says that he 'wants to enjoy the last day of summer before the next year starts'," Vaughn replied.

"Shame. Wanted to knock him around a bit," Coco replied with a shrug, but then smirked as she leaned down to pick up her handbag, which then morphed into a minigun with a large cylinder of ammunition and a smaller but much longer cylinder with six barrels arranged in a circle.

Vaughn stood tall, unfazed by such a dangerous-looking weapon as his finger flicked the safety on his rifle. The Dust from his magazine began to course through small tubes which illuminated the rifle with white light; giving the weapon life as the Dust pumpes like blood through mechanical veins, as he raised his rifle and took aim.

Meanwhile, Yatsuhashi unsheathed the blade he carried on his back and slammed his foot down as he held his sword in both hands; the tip of the massive blade, which seemed as if it was made for cavalry warfare, was pointed straight at Cecilia.

With a grin, Cecilia turned her body and allowed her claymore to rest along the length of her left arm and brought it up to her head; she peered down the length of her sword as likewise pointed the tip at Yatsuhashi.

Then, without any prompting, the combatants began their battle.

 **-RWBY-**

It was slowly turning dark; the last slivers of sunlight were vanishing as the sun set and the rays could be seen from above the building. Seeing this, a Faunus named 'Anders' impatiently checked his Scroll again; the person he was supposed to meet was late.

He pulled back on his fingerless gloves, making sure they were nice and tight before fixing his tie, and took a deep breath. Anders stood, his arms crossed and his back against a wall next to a corner that lead to an alleyway, where he had agreed to meet with someone.

Luckily for him, he didn't attract too much attention but was met with a few curious looks and glares, to which he responded with a smile and wave that would often make them go about their way.

Before long, footsteps could be heard echoing down the alley, and Anders breathed a sigh of relief but remained still before meeting this contact, so as not to seem too eager. He was disappointed to see a stranger emerge from the alley and continue on, which made Anders realize that it was not the person that he was waiting for.

"Zed?" A voice spoke up behind him, which made Anders's head shoot up; he remained calm, however. Only a friend would call him by that name.

"You're late, Remy," Anders replied.

"I'm not known for my punctuality, but I at least come through when I make a promise, right?" The stranger, named 'Remy', replied.

Anders pushed off the wall that he leaned on and turned to see a rat Faunus standing before him.

"I know, but anyways, how is the cooking business?" Anders asked.

"Booming. Really good for just a small little shop in just some corner in the bad part of the city, but it gets me by," Remy answered as he joined Anders, and they both leaned against the wall as they exchanged pleasantries.

"Alright, let's make this quick, I don't want to be around this late, especially not around here," Remy said.

"Then let's get to business," Anders responded, as he then pulled out a wad of cash and discreetly handed it to Remy, who quickly looked over it and put it away.

"Doesn't hurt to be part of a wealthy family, huh?" Remy commented.

"It has its perks," Anders replied with a smile. "What do you have for me today?"

"Just bits and pieces, but I thought it would be enough to get you on the right track," Remy replied, and then leaned forward a bit while he motioned for Anders to join him, too.

"All I know so far," Remy said quietly, which forced Anders to lean in to hear him better. "Is the guy you are looking for was at one point over at the club 'Fairy TalesTails'."

Anders couldn't help but curse; all of the shady types went to that club.

"Anything else?" Anders asked, still smiling, but his grin did not reach his eyes.

Remy sighed and shook his head. "Nothing more than that, unfortunately. He hides his tracks well."

The smile on Anders's face slowly turned into a scowl as he began to pace back and forth with a growl. Remy idly glanced at him and noticed his eyes flickered from green to orange. Knowing what this meant, he reached for the wad of money and pulled out half.

"Guess I didn't do my job that well then, huh?" Remy said, as he offered the money to Anders, who stopped for a moment before he dismissed it.

"I wanted info, and you gave me info, as far as I am concerned you delivered. At least I know where to go next," Anders responded as he pushed off the wall..

"Well, if that's all, I will be on my way," Remy said, as he turned back into the alley and disappeared into the darkness.

Anders shook his head and began to make his way further into the bad part of Vale, towards the Fairy Tales club. In the past, he would sometimes have visited the club to try and woo the twin bouncers, Melanie and Miltia, but he was always met with rejection. Then, he remembered something that made him chuckle.

Several days ago, the club had been wrecked by some blonde chick, and the thought of any misfortune that came Junior's way was hilarious to Anders.

However, his Scroll went off and, curious, Anders picked it up and saw that he had received a message; he was surprised to see that it had come from Doctor Oobleck. With his thumb, he clicked on the message and as he read it, and two fox ears that he had hidden in his messy hair stood up straight and wiggled.

 **-RWBY-**

He could feel it… the warmth that Vale emanated was slowly drifting away, and he didn't have to open his eyes to know it. Instead, the warmth was replaced by a cold void as they made their way further into what some would call a "no-mans" land. Only the Grimm lived in these parts of the , there was slight comfort as not everything was dark, there were, in fact, some rays of light around him…

"Why do you want to be a Huntsman?" He heard a familiar voice ask, which prompted Haiiden to open his eyes.

As he sat in the seat of a Bullhead VTOL with his hands clasped together, Haiiden twiddled his thumbs nervously. The turbulence rocked the ship from side to side, causing Haiiden to tense up so as not to fall over but that was not the source of his worry.

"It is all right to be nervous," Oobleck said out of the blue, as he took a sip from his thermos.

"It'ts just my first job that involves actual Huntsman work," Haiiden stammered out and gave a nervous smile. "It's been hard to look for work, so to actually find one for a Huntsman is kind of exciting."

"Well considering your age, I could see why it would be difficult to find any work as a Huntsman," Oobleck replied with a nod. "How old are you again?"

"Just turned 18 recently, Doctor," Haiiden replied as he beamed at Oobleck.

"Ah, how time flies," Oobleck took another sip from his thermos, before he looked out the window. "Looks like we are just about here!"

Haiiden likewise looked out as they descended and watched as broken and dilapidated buildings crested the bottom of the window and into view.

"Remember, clear your mind, Haiiden. I want you on your top performance for this mission," Oobleck exclaimed, as he opened the side doors which allowed the roaring of the VTOL's engines to flood the cabin.

"I won't let you down, Doctor," Haiiden yelled in reply, however, he could feel butterflies in his stomach already.

"I know you won't," Oobleck said with a nod before they both jumped out of the VTOL and landed in the middle of a ruined city, Mountain Glenn.

A few hours into their trek, Haiiden found himself inside an old building which he used as cover. Slowly making his way through as his held the scabbard of his sword in one hand, and the handle with the other.

Haiiden walked through the rubble of a collapsed building and ducked under a piece of concrete that was once part of the floor of the room now above him. His footing was off, and he tried to keep himself from falling over as the rocks and pebbles under his feet shifted.

Rays of sunlight beamed through the cracks and crevices of the walls, illuminating the dust that puffed up with every step he took.

The corridors grew brighter as he traversed further along the outer wall of the structure, until a cool breeze and fresh air overwhelmed him, and he then stepped outside.

He thought the stories of what happened here would have prepared him, but his stomach turned once he had a better view of what had once been known as Mountain Glenn.

His heart sank, he'd heard stories from the few Huntsman who would come here for practice but the descriptions of the devastation weren't enough to prepare him for what he had witnessed thusfar.

He placed his left hand over the pommel of his sword as he then began to survey what was left through a collapsed wall in what he assumed had once been an apartment building; loud crunches could be heard as pieces of concrete lost integrity and fell to the ground.

Even though the city had fallen many years ago, what was left still continued to crumble and fall as time went on.

So much work and ambition had gone into building this new metropolis, only for it to fall to ruin like every other attempt to expand made by humans and Faunus alike.

It was moments like these that he was reminded of one of the reasons why he wanted to become a Huntsman. The thought angered him slightly.

Suddenly, there was silence. Not even a pebble could be heard and it felt like the world turned still around him until the shifting of stone and rubble disturbed the silence, and he turned and looked up to see what was the cause.

Above him was Doctor Oobleck.

"Find anything?" Haiiden asked.

"Only small tidbits here and there, but nothing significant, I'm afraid," Oobleck replied with a seemingly disappointed huff before he then took a sip from his thermos. However, nothing would stop him from getting answers, and he stood tall with a hand on his hip.

"What exactly are we looking for? To be honest, you were a bit vague as to what you wanted, exactly," Haiiden asked again.

"We are here for knowledge," Oobleck replied as he took another sip from his thermos, and still managed to show his palpable excitement through the near endless supply of energy that he already exhibited.

Haiiden stared for a moment before he drew his attention back to the ruins as he pondered as to what could possibly be learned from these old ruins.

The most that would be learned from this place was that the Grimm would stop at nothing until everyone was dead, and that much was already known from the state of the ruined city, as they stifled any attempt at expansion.

"So why am I here then? I mean, you probably have a better idea of what you are looking for than I would," Haiiden replied, as he observed the area around him a second time as he thought he had heard something.

"Perhaps. I also brought you here for help against the Grimm and for a bit of company. Lord knows how dreary it is here," Oobleck replied with a frown.

"I guess," Haiiden said and looked up at Oobleck. "Thanks for bringing me along, by the way. It is nice to see someone from Beacon again.

"Believe me, it is nice to see you again, too, but I would still like to keep my mind on the task at hand," Oobleck replied, before something off in the distance caught his attention.

"Wait here," Oobleck said before he quickly zoomed off While Haiiden stayed behind.

Haiiden waited silently by the old apartment building and sat at the edge and while his legs dangled off the edge of a large hole in the wall. It was out of the way, just enough to provide cover while still giving him a view of the surrounding area; it was nearly quiet, with howls from distant Grimm occasionally breaking the calm.

His hand clasped tightly around the hilt of his sword as he listened to the howling. He hated the Grimm; they were one of the many reasons why he had wanted to become a Huntsman. But…

" _Why do you want to be a Huntsman?_ " He heard the voice ask again. This tim, the voice had an air of authority, but also had a hint of gentleness and tinged with elderly wisdom.

" _I want to kill Grimm_ ," he had answered. He had tried to understand them better during his time at Beacon. But instead of giving a clear answer, it had only confused him more.

That was when he saw movement in the distance that made him stand and put a hand to his sheathed blade: Grimm.

Eager for a fight, the blood within him starting to run swiftly, he quickly jumped from the safety and cover of the broken building and charged at his would-be opponent, and that was he knew what he had to do; he had trained his entire life for this, mentally as well physically.

" _Is that your only reason for becoming a Huntsman_?" Again, the voice spoke, as he drew his sword from its scabbard.

" _Yes,"_ he answered, as it was the first answer that came to mind. " _They would destroy all of us; I hate them!"_

And for a moment, the voice went silent.

He tried banish all emotion, as well as focus his attention entirely in the present. He needed to concentrate. The Creeps might be among the weakest of the Creatures of Grimm, but he was alone. And more of them were continuing to crawl from the rubble and shadows of broken buildings around him.

He knew not to underestimate them. Should there be too many of them for him to handle, this fight could be fatal.

He held his sword close in a tight guard as the creatures drew in closer. His stance was low, while he fixed his gaze upon the Grimm with gray eyes. They met his gaze with hate-filled eyes that glowed a deep red.

Their only purpose was to destroy him and anyone else they could get their claws on, and an insidious feeling began to grow inside him.

" _Hate is a rather powerful emotion._ " The voice spoke again; the Grimm began to converge onto Haiiden, sensing the overwhelming feeling that he had bottled up inside, and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to release it: hate.

The first Creep leapt towards him. With a quick strike of his sword, he cleaved the creature in two and immediately turned on his next target.

The other Grimm turned to watch the body of their fallen ally slowly turn to black smoke and ash, before redirecting their attention back to their prey as they then began to close on him.

" _It can serve as an adequate motivator_."

Attracted by his hate, Grimm began to emerge from the cracks of the building and the crumpled debris. He tried his best to keep his mind on the fight, but his anger got the best of him, as evidenced in his increasingly _brutish_ fighting style.

He slammed one Creep down to the ground and stomped down onto its lower jaw. With his gauntleted left arm, he grabbed the upper jaw and split the skull in half.

" _But be careful to not become the thing against which you fight_."

He faltered for a moment, his thoughts tugging at his mind, and for a moment he was pulled away from the heat of battle.

" _Become them? We are nothing like them_!" Haiiden answered and again, the voice went silent.

A flash of black was just enough to pull him from his reverie, as a Creep lunged at him, and he was just able to move out of the way. As he backed off, he took a look around as more and more Grimm crawled out of every possible crevice, seemingly out of nowhere and everywhere at once.

" _No, we are not_ ; _they are creatures of pure malevolence, the embodiment of everything evil, down to every negative emotion."_

He stepped back, narrowly dodging another attack and, viciously retaliating. The situation became dire. As he reeled back from his attack, another Creep jumped at him and hit him hard.

" _Let us take you, for example: hate. It will grow, and fester, like any other dark emotion, and what do you think will happen_?"

He reached behind him and grabbed a Creep that managed to cling onto his back before he threw it onto the ground and stabbed it in the heart.

" _The Grimm come, the more your hate grows, the more they come; until they, like hate, will overwhelm you."_

Fatigue set in as he began to take in large gulps of air while the Grimm stood and stared at him. He stared back, and for a moment, through their animal like appearance, he could see that their mouths curled into crooked smiles.

" _No, there is another aspect to being a Huntsman; while their duty is to hunt and destroy the Grimm, Huntsmen do so to protect_."

Haiiden let out a sigh, he knew what the voice would say next and the world seemed to slow down around him.

" _No, you are not a hateful person so I must ask again: why do you want to become a Huntsman_?"

He knew why: a small child, a woman in white and a fire that had burned out long ago.

" _I… I also want to protect people_ ," he answered, even though it was only half the truth.

" _Then instead of hate, hold on to that, and never let go of it,_ " the voice answered, then a ringing permeated his ears before it suddenly disappeared.

" _Here, let me show you, but first you must close your eyes_." The voice was replaced by another, more feminine one, one that was velvety and invoked a sense of calm and warmth within him.

He did what the voice said and he closed his eyes as he began to focus until he saw only a small and pathetic ember; a light in the never-ending sea of darkness, but it was just enough, and he held on to it.

The Grimm watched, the dark feeling they sensed had subsided until they could no longer feel anything else. Then the first of the remaining Creeps attacked.

He quickly sidestepped out of the way; his sword arm was tucked under his clawed gauntlet as he then twisted his body and swung upward as he gutted the Grimm and ended his attack with a twirl of his sword.

He opened his eyes, almost entranced as he stared into the distance, before back stepping away from one Creep and turned to another one behind him. One slash was all it took to down the two Grimm before he stopped again and waited for the next monster to try and jump at him.

The Creeps came at him, at first in ones and twos, but like a carefully choreographed dance, he chose his movements, as well as his targets, carefully; a sidestep to the right to dodge an incoming Grimm, but not forgotten as when he killed one, he quickly killed the other.

As the battle continued, the air around them began to thicken as the slain Grimm began to disintegrate and the smoke filled the air, and as he continued to swing, it began to trail at the tip of his blade like a gymnast's ribbon attached to a stick.

He slowly let his instinct and training take hold, to the point where he was almost lost in a trance as he continued to dance on the battlefield; never straying from the small circle of death that he had created. His coat was flapping through the air, which distracted the Grimm further and allowed him to kill them with ease.

Finally, he was down to the last of the Grimm, and when it lay on the ground, dead and disintegrating before its remains were lost to the wind, he then stopped with a serene finality.

As the last of the smoke from the Creep's body faded, he opened his eyes as if he had awoken from a dream, and the haze in his mind began to fade.

" _I see it_." He responded.

" _Then hold on to it, and never forget it_."

However, he seemed to be waking up to a nightmare, as a loud crash could be heard from behind, and pieces of broken concrete slid across the ground past him. He turned to see an Alpha Beowolf standing in a crater it had just made.

It was a creature much more terrifying than the Creeps, which only crawled on two arms while the Beowolf stood on two massive and powerful legs, and had burly arms fitted with sharp claws at their fingertips.

His eyes widened, and he quickly raised his weapon at this new Grimm attacker, and it responded by raising its arms and opening its mouth, showing its own set of weapons in the form of a face full of teeth, including two large canine fangs.

It reared higher into the air until it stood almost twice as tall as Haiiden, which made him swallow nervously.

"No different than any other Grimm," he thought to himself, before he mustered the nerve to charge at the Alpha, and in turn, it charged at him.

Once they had reached striking distance, they both swung, only to miss as they then turned to face each other again, and they slowly skidded to a stop.

Both combatants charged again before they slid to a stop right in front of one another, and began to exchange blows; while his small size allowed Haiiden to dodge, his counters only scratched the Beowolf before it got lucky and managed to connect its large paw into his chest.

The force of that strike launched Haiiden back into the wall of one of the broken buildings, but only left a small crater, and he fell back down onto one knee. Luckily for his Aura, he managed to shrug off most of the damage, but it still left a heavy, dull feeling in his chest.

He looked up, to see that the Beowolf was already charging at him again, and before long it had gotten on all fours before lunging at Haiiden. Likewise, Haiiden kicked off the ground, as he dove under the Grimm and quickly got to his feet once he has slid beneath the monster and bounded out of a roll.

A thud shook the ground, as the Beowolf missed its mark, landed on the pavement, and began to look around for its missing prey; he charged at it again and as it turned around to face him, Haiiden jumped up onto its chest with both feet and kicked off of it.

Despite his size, the kick had just enough power to stagger the Beowolf for a few seconds, and it was all Haiiden needed to turn the tide. As he landed on his feet, he planted one foot down before he then dashed off the sidewalk, leaving a crater in the concrete where his foot had been planted a moment before.

As he came down, he slashed at the thigh of the Beowolf as he severed its leg, and spun to gain more momentum for his next strike; he then severed the other leg at the knee before the Beowolf had taken the time required to collapse to the ground.

Now held up from the ground by both of its front claws, the Beowolf turned to face him, and let out a defiant growl before Haiiden then brought up his sword and severed its head with a single, clean stroke; Haiiden watched as the head arced through the air, its red eyes dimming to a dull, dead scarlet, and smoke began to trail off the decapitated missile as it plopped to the ground with a lethal finality.

Within a few seconds, all that was left of the Beowolf was a small cloud of black smoke drifting down the street in the afternoon breeze, as whatever remained slowly disappeared into nothing.

The ruins were quiet yet again, but Haiiden knew that this peace would not last long. Eventually, the street would be teeming with more Grimm, because in the end, it seemed like a foolish dream to ever think that they would be killed for good; the Grimm were a silent, drooling nightmare just waiting for its chance to spring into reality.

He returned his sword to its sheath until his head then shot up as he remembered Oobleck. He turned towards the direction where The hyperactive Doctor had run off to, only to see that there was nothing there, and he felt his stomach tense as the worry set in.

Haiiden had just fought a group of Grimm, and he wondered if they had managed to find Oobleck while he was scouring the ruins. Although Oobleck was an experienced Huntsman, he had been taught that the Grimm would often wait with surprising patience for the perfect opportunity to take down even the strongest of that elite corps of men and women, human and Faunus alike.

"Well, that was fun."

Haiiden jumped, startled by the sudden voice coming so soon after the battle, and he looked up to see Oobleck standing on the roof as he looked down on him.

"Doctor! Um, how long have you been watching?" Haiiden asked nervously.

"Since the bout started," Oobleck replied as his smile then grew wider, to which Haiiden reeled back and lowered his gaze.

"Oh," Haiiden replied.

"You did well," Oobleck replied, at which Haiiden looked up with an excited smile before Oobleck motioned for Haiiden to join him.

He nodded, and sprinted towards the building that Oobleck was perched upon, and then ran up the wall. As he began to lose momentum, he jumped up and caught onto the ledge of a window before he looked to the side to see a crack in the wall that he could grab onto.

He made it to the roof quickly, only brushing off the dust off his coat as he met with Oobleck.

"A Huntsman must always keep their mind on the fight, but just from watching you, I was able to deduce that something kept your mind from the task at hand," Oobleck responded.

"Sorry, Doctor," Haiiden replied.

"I know you can do much better, but from what I know about you, your mind often wandered, even during my classes," Oobleck looked down at his Scroll and peeked at the time. It was getting late, and that only meant more Grimm.

He slid his thumb over a button, which made his Scroll beep.

A few minutes later, the VTOL had returned to their position, and lowered itself just enough for the two to jump into the cabin.

"That's all for the day," Oobleck said as he stepped onto the VTOL, and Haiiden followed before they sat across from each other. "I think we have outstayed our welcome."

As the Bullhead took off, Haiiden looked out the window and noticed a scourge of Grimm emerging from the ruins once more and converging on their former position, apparently having been lying in wait for the perfect opportunity to attack, and had just missed their opportunity.

The Bullhead touched down in Vale's hover-port an hour later, and as the door opened, Haiiden's senses were overwhelmed by all of the different types of VTOLs taking off and leaving. The engines hissing and whirring as they started up, to the roaring of engines as they lifted off and faded away into the distance.

Haiiden stepped off the Bullhead and checked his Scroll to see if his payment for assisting Oobleck had been received. He felt bad for accepting payment from Oobleck, even if it was a small amount, but Oobleck had offered the job, and Haiiden needed the money; this would be enough for him to get by for some time.

"You sure you don't want a ride back to Beacon?" Oobleck asked, to which Haiiden turned to reply.

"No, I'm fine; thank you, though. It was fun," Haiiden said with a nervous smile.

"Well thank you for your help. Have a good night, then, and good luck to you," Oobleck replied as he then closed the door to the Bullhead and it took off again. As they gained altitude, Oobleck took out his Scroll and opened up his contacts; he searched for a few names: Ignis, Sceryei, Ozpin, and Goodwitch, highlighting each one before pressing send.

As Haiiden walked home, he debated on what to eat with some of his newly earned money as he made his way back to his apartment; first, he needed to drop off his sword. Finally, a real meal for once, not cheap noodles that, while they would fill his belly, more often than not made him slightly sick to his stomach.

However, his thoughts were interrupted as he began to notice the glances from the people around him. He wondered what exactly he was doing to attract this kind of attention and for a moment he was nervous as he put his hands in his pockets and turned brought his elbows close to his body.

"Why are they staring?" He thought, he looked down at himself, and everything seemed to be in place.

As more and more people glanced at him, it only increased his anxiety and at one point even made eye contact with a random passerby. He quickly turned his gaze, only to find himself staring at a reflection of himself in a store window.

He swallowed nervously, and almost forgot that he still had his sword to the left of his hip. Perhaps this was the reason why he was getting so much attention from passersby. In the kingdoms, most of the Huntsman didn't walk around with their weapons. There was simply no need to.

But then, his gaze slowly began to work its way up and he examined his features. His old and raggedy coat, which was wrapped around his waist with a belt. Looking even further upward, he saw a familiar shawl wrapped around his neck, and he raised his hand to touch it.

He lost himself as he examined the shawl, it was laced and had intricate patterns woven into it, but then his gaze switched over to his hand; or rather, the gauntlet that he wore over his right arm, which extended down to the elbow. As he examined the gauntlet, he was reminded of how he had received it.

"Can I help you?" someone asked, which made Haiiden jump in place and look to his left and right to try and determine where the voice was coming from. To his left, stood a man in a white apron, and when Haiiden looked forward, he noticed that he had been standing in front of a bakery.

"Uhh," Haiiden stammered."No! No, I'm fine."

Embarrassed, Haiiden turned and began to walk down the street once more, this time at a quicker pace as the baker watched with a quirked brow.

He turned the corner, and his apartment building came into view; he breathed a sigh of relief. He began to reflect on the events of the past week as he slowly made his way forward, unaware of the footsteps behind them that increased in speed, and volume.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind, which made Haiiden leap to one side as he roughly grabbed at the arms that held him, and he unceremoniously threw his potential assailant. A flash of orange came into view, as the person he had just tossed skyward gracefully landed before jumping again with a backflip and landing gracefully on both feet.

Before him, was the grinning face of his friend, Anders, but he always called him by his childhood name…

"Zed?" Haiiden asked with a perplexed look.

"Mate," Zed replied in a rough northern accent. Barely able to contain his excitement as the fox ears he hid beneath his messy orange hair popped out. He quickly stepped forward with his arms outstretched, ready to receive his friend. "It's been a while."

"How did you find me?" Haiiden asked, his eyes widened as Zed then wrapped his arms around him, and squeezed tightly.

"Doesn't matter. You had me worried when you disappeared like that," Zed remarked, intentionally leaving out the fact that it was Oobleck that had contacted him and told him where Haiiden was going to be.

"Really? You really don't seem all that worried," Haiiden replied as he tilted his head.

"Well, you are a survivor, you know?" Zed said as he pulled away and they both stood silently as they looked at each other.

"I missed you, mate," Zed said, his smile softening, one that Haiiden recognized and to which Haiiden replied with his own smile.

"Me too. I hoped you guys have been doing well," Haiiden replied.

"Oh yeah, we have been hunky-dory and all, but we will talk about that later. I'm bored, let's go and take a walk around town," Zed said with a grin.

"Oh? Yeah, sure," Haiiden said, gladly.

"But first, I need to freshen up," Zed said. "After you."

Haiiden stepped through the door and into the building while Zed lingered outside for a moment. He pulled out his Scroll and searched for the names 'Ozpin' and 'Goodwitch', he then wrote in an address and hit send before he went in after his friend.

 **-RWBY-**

"So, you were with Oobleck this whole time? Blinding miracle you haven't gone insane," Zed remarked as they walked down the street after exiting the apartment building.

"Not exactly, I was only with him briefly for one job," Haiiden replied.

"Was it difficult to find Huntsman work?" Zed asked, curious.

"It was very hard; not many people wanted to take me, despite the fact I offered cheap rates for my assistance," Haiiden said with a heavy sigh. "But I got by."

"Well, you know, if you need help…" Zed mumbled.

"No, I'll be fine," Haiiden countered; he knew Zed was wealthy, but he was too proud to ask for money. Mostly, he didn't want to feel as though he was taking advantage of his friend.

"If you say so; not too late to come back, you know?" Zed winced slightly as he continued.

"It would feel weird to come back now," Haiiden replied with a heavy sigh.

"Just saying. I'd welcome you back with open arms," Zed said, this time with his signature grin as they continued forward. It wasn't until they went further into the bad part of Vale, did Haiiden begin to realize where they were, and he quirked a brow.

"Where are we going, anyways?" Haiiden asked.

"Oh, just to the Fairy Tales," Zed replied, nonchalantly.

"Junior's?" Haiiden asked as soon as the words were out of his friend's mouth. "Zed, please. If you had told me we were going to there, I would have brought my sword."

"It'll be fine; I promise I won't cause trouble this time," Zed said with a light chuckle.

"I hope not, I really don't want to deal with the twins again," Haiiden said with a shudder.

"You seemed to handle yourself well the last time we got into an encounter over there," Zed said.

"They just scare me is all," Haiiden said with a shake of his head.

"Those two birds?" Zed turned his head as he asked, stifling a laugh.

"They're weird, Zed," Haiiden replied.

"But they're also super cute," Zed said, as he and Haiiden stopped in front of Junior's club; Haiiden tilted his head as he looked at the edifice. Noticing the torn down police tape laying in the street, and the broken glass strewn about the ground.

"What the hell happened here? Zed, you didn't do this, did you?" Haiiden asked, his mouth gaping wide open as he turned to Zed with his brows furrowed. Zed merely replied with a shrug.

"Not me this time, I swear. I heard it was some blonde chick that just came in and wrecked the place," Zed replied and pushed the doors open; they practically fell off their hinges at the slightest touch.

"Holy- who did Junior piss off this time?" Haiiden said, and froze as he took in the length and breadth of the damage that had rained down on the club like an act of the Gods.

The glass floor was shattered, the strobe lights destroyed, and all that was left was just the white lights that illuminated the club from the ceiling; the DJ booth was completely trashed.

What drew his attention the most, however, was how beaten Junior and the twins were. While they seemed largely uninjured, they were clearly not in the best moods, as they sat together with ice packs on their heads and groaned in pain.

Whoever this woman was, Haiiden hoped he would never meet her, or at least, to never get on her bad side.

"Junior!" Zed yelled happily, as he made his way down the steps onto the broken floor, and when Junior looked up to see who his new guest was, he groaned even louder upon realizing it was Zed.

"Kid, what do you want?" Junior asked gruffly.

"I heard what happened, and thought I would come in here and take the piss a little; admire the sight," Zed replied, to which Haiiden noticed a little skip in his step.

"So you came here to mock me, then?" Junior asked, and shook his head, then winced and pressed the ice pack a little harder to his forehead. Haiiden turned to eye the twins, and noticed that they glared back at him, which almost made Haiiden jump a little.

He reached for the handle of his sword, before realizing that he didn't have it on him, and grabbed at the thin air at his side instead.

"No, I also came to say hi to the lovely ladies," Zed said with a nod, and placed his hands on his hips before he turned to the sisters and winked at them.

"Ugh," the sisters replied with obvious disgust and in unison, before standing up and stalking off.

"Awww, come on, you can't resist my charm," Zed said sarcastically before he turned his attentions back to Junior. "Pleasure later, but seriously, I have come for business."

"Bad time, kid; I am absolutely not in the mood right now," Junior replied and turned away before Zed blocked him and slammed his hand on the table. Junior backed away as he noticed Zed's eye color change from green, to orange in an instant, which meant _he_ was about to be in an even worse mood.

"Zed," Haiiden said in a hushed voice, but was cut off by Zed as he raised a finger.

"Probably the best time, Junior, as you are not the only person who knows things in Vale," Zed said. "Tell me what I want, and I'll leave you alone; shrug me off like that again, and I will trash whatever is left of this rubbish that you call a 'club'."

Junior narrowed his eyes at Zed and slowly sat back down on his seat with a drawn-out sigh.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" Junior asked.

"What was Torchwick doing here?" Zed asked, and Haiiden quirked a brow at the mention of the name.

"This is why we're here? I thought it was to hang out." Haiiden lamented; Zed's eyes reverted back to their calm, emerald green, as he turned to his friend.

"We are. Isn't this fun? Making him practically piss his pants?" Zed replied with a smile.

"You don't scare me, kid; I am just not in the mood for more trouble, not to mention more questions from the police," Junior continued, and Zed quickly snapped back to him, his finger raised accusingly.

"Call me 'kid' one more time, I dare you, you bloody wanker," Zed growled, and Junior sat silently once again. "Now, about Torchwick?"

"He just came in for a little chat is all," Junior replied.

"No, not a man like him. He doesn't come for chats, he wanted something; so what was it?" Zed continued, but was met with a few moments of silence. Haiiden slowly stepped behind Zed, in case he was going to start getting physical.

Junior eyed Haiiden before he looked back to Zed.

"He asked for some muscle; I took his money, and I provided some," Junior replied, and Zed laughed.

"Those chumps? What could they have possibly accomplished?" Zed answered. "Okay, what were they for?"

"I don't know," Junior replied.

"I find that hard to believe, Junior. While, I wouldn't say what you do is illegal, I always find you with these dodgy types, Torchwick especially, so I find it hard to believe that you aren't chummy in some way with him," Zed replied, as he leaned closer to Junior.

Although Junior was larger in stature, the way Zed dauntingly stood over him, made even him slink back in his seat slightly.

"I don't deal with his type in that way," Junior replied, as he then swallowed nervously.

"Ah yes, because apparently there is some hierarchy, isn't there? There is you," Zed continued, using one hand to signify Junior. "Then there is Torchwick up here. He knows everything that you do, but you don't know what he does, right? That is some serious tosh right there."

"Pretty much," Junior replied with a bit of ice in his voice. Enraged, Zed's eyes turned orange and he once again slammed his palm down on the bar table, which caused it to collapse and explode into splinters; Junior was subsequently forced to cover his eyes from the incoming fragments. "Hey, hey now!"

"Zed!" Haiiden exclaimed and grabbed him by the arm, which caused him to jump. He turned around, his eyes turning back to its normal green before his shoulders lowered and he took a deep breath.

"For the last time, what did Torchwick want?" Zed said through his teeth.

"I don't know! The guys I loaned him never came back!" Junior cried out. Zed quietly turned to face Haiiden and quirked a brow at him.

"Do you believe this?" Zed asked, and for a moment Haiiden didn't know how to respond, and thought it was a strange question. He turned his attention to Junior for a moment, and saw how he looked at his now destroyed bar table. Junior's face didn't register fear so much as frustration and defeat.

Whatever Junior had been going through did not matter to him, however, he didn't want to make things worse than they already were.

"Yeah, I do," Haiiden replied, to which Zed quickly turned and bowed.

"Well, I guess that settles it," Zed replied with a cheery tone.

"Whatever. Just get out and don't ever come back," Junior replied and let out another groan, as he then slumped in his chair while the duo made their way out.

The walk back to Haiiden's apartment was quiet; Zed's mood was soured, as he paid no attention to his appearance; his hair hung over his eyes and he was slouched forward while he walked.

"That was unnecessary, you know?" Haiiden said.

"Who cares? He's just some bag of bollocks who needs to get off his high horse," Zed replied and shook his head.

"I don't, but it seems like he was already in a bad mood," Haiiden continued. "I mean, the club was already wrecked as it is."

"Yeah? Well," Zed replied, but stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Perhaps you're right, mate."

He then turned, and flashed a smile before fixing his hair again; he noticed the familiar neon sign, as they arrived at the apartment building that Haiiden stayed at, and he turned to face him.

"Well, good night, I hope we see each other soon," Zed said, and the smile on his face vanished.

"Yeah, don't be afraid to flash a text every once in a while," Haiiden said, this time, he was the one to open his arms, and Zed gladly reached out and hugged his friend.

"Good luck to you, mate," Zed said, but took a few moments to look over his friend for what could have been the last time before turning tail and walking away.

 **-RWBY-**

Haiiden made his way up to his apartment, his eyes heavy after a long and tiring day, and the idea of simply falling flat onto the bed seemed more appealing by the second. He quietly unlocked the door, and slowly opened it, turning on the lights in the process.

He turned back to close the door, and just when the it clicked shut he jumped at an unexpected voice.

"Hello, Mr. Shiro." the young man heard just as he closed the door and upon recognizing the voice, he knew immediately that he had to run.

He swung open the door again, but only managed to get it half way when a force kept him from moving it any further; then, as if pushed by an unstoppable force, it was forced shut, seemingly on its own.

When Haiiden tried to pull his hand away from the doorknob, he noticed that he couldn't; ice was quickly engulfing his hand. Hesitantly, Haiiden turned his head to the window to see Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, sitting at his desk, the building across the street framing him through the window.

His assistant, Professor Glynda Goodwitch, also an instructor at Beacon, was standing right next to him with her arms folded as she stared at Haiiden with disapproval in her eyes.

"Hello, Ms. Goodwitch," Haiiden said with a nervous smile as looked to his frozen hand, and then back to her, and knew immediately that the ice was her doing.

"So, where have you been?" Glynda asked, visibly angry but when Haiiden looked over to Ozpin, he saw that he was smiling warmly.

"I, uh. I have been doing Huntsman stuff. I guess," Haiiden answered nervously.

"If I recall, you dropped out before graduating from the Academy. That means you are not officially a Huntsman, much less qualified to be working as one, Glynda rebutted, while Ozpin stood and Haiiden noticed that he was holding his signature coffee mug.

"I don't need to be recognized as a Huntsman," Haiiden replied, standoffish.

"You may think yourself a Huntsman, but as far as the law is concerned you are not. Not until you finish your instruction at a Huntsman Academy that is accredited within the Kingdoms."

Haiiden stared silently at Glynda; he knew that she was right, but still found it ridiculous that he needed to be recognized as a Huntsman before he could work. However, he knew that he had to watch his words carefully, as he did not want incur her wrath.

"Given your family's past, Headmaster Ozpin went to great lengths to allow you into Beacon.' Is this how you repay him for what he has done?" Glynda practically exclaimed.

"That's enough, Glynda. He knows about his family well enough; you don't need to remind him," Ozpin reprimanded Glynda, trying to calm her down, as everyone knew what was likely to happen if she was angered.

She sighed to herself and lowered her head as she backed away from Ozpin's chair; she looked up again to glare back at Haiiden.

"How did you find me?" Haiiden asked quietly.

"With the help of Dr. Oobleck and your friend, Mr. Ignis," Ozpin replied. "They both care about you."

Haiiden sighed and looked at Ozpin. "So, what now?"

Ozpin only shook his head as he sat back down; Haiiden swallowed nervously as he waited for what he knew Ozpin would say next.

"I am here to offer you your old spot back at Beacon," Ozpin said, at which Haiiden raised his head slowly. " You need to be recognized by not only Beacon, but by the Council of Vale. This is how it works. The Kingdom lost control of the Huntsmen when some decided to side with the Faunus during the Faunus Rights Revolution. Now they regulate certification as well as recognition, and they regulate it harshly."

"I know, sir," Haiiden said under his breath.

"Now that we are in agreement," Ozpin said after a few moments of silence, and winced as he stood up, clearly tired after waiting who knows how long for Haiiden. "I find it fitting to tell you that when you dropped out, I didn't mark it as such in your record. So as far as the Academy is concerned, you have missed a lot of schoolwork, which made you fail your classes. Now you will have to retake your first school year."

Haiiden's head shot up and darted back at Ozpin and Glynda at what he hoped was merely a joke. Glynda walked past with a smile that had a hint of smugness, before both she and Ozpin stopped in front of Haiiden.

"I will also speak with the landlord to see if it would be possible to get you out of your lease," Ozpin said, before he looked down towards the door handle. "I'm sure we can come to an arrangement."

"Excuse us," Ozpin said politely and motioned towards Haiiden's hand.

Haiiden looked back at his frozen hand and sighed as he realized that he was blocking the way. He turned the knob and opened the door to allow them to leave.

"Thank you," Ozpin said as he and Glynda both proceeded out before Haiiden finally remembered a very important detail.

"W- Wait! What about my hand?" he yelled after them.

Ozpin stopped in the middle of the corridor and turned to Glynda who reluctantly waved her riding crop, and the ice on Haiiden's hand thawed.

 **-RWBY-**

Gunshots and metal weapons clashing against one another reverberated down the empty halls of Beacon Academy, as the remaining teams who did not leave to return to their families between the school years were practicing in the auditorium of the school.

The combatants, Vaughn and Cecilia, had just concluded their sparring match against two members of team CFVY, Yatsuhashi and Coco.

Coco laughed as she then patted Yatsuhashi on the shoulder after the match against the two teammates, Vaughn and Cecilia; both had rather proud smiles of their own as they walked to meet up with their friendly adversaries.

"Not bad," Coco congratulated. "Nice flanking shots, Vaughn."

"Thank you, Miss Adel," Vaughn replied, right before he was struck in the right arm by his twin sister, and his teammate, Cecilia.

"Would have been something to congratulate, if you hadn't timed that grenade poorly," Cecilia hissed, as she stormed off the stage to meet with Velvet and Fox. Velvet, who looked excited after the fight, her camera in hand as she continued to take pictures well after the fight was over.

"Well, you all did rather well, from where I stand," Velvet said in her northern accent, which was much like Zed's, except it was much more clipped and formal, in an attempt to try and calm Cecilia.

"It wasn't good enough if we can't coordinate our attacks well enough," Cecilia responded, but realized her tone was a bit standoffish, and she turned back to Velvet with a smile. "But I will admit, I had fun."

Velvet gladly took another picture of this rare moment, at which Cecilia's smile quickly disappeared, and she turned red for a moment. Velvet quickly ran up onto the stage to meet up with her team, leaving Fox at the bottom, who quietly waited with his arms crossed.

"Sorry, sis; I will do better next time," Vaughn said, as he too, made his way off the stage alongside Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet.

"Well, it wasn't all bad, I mean, me and Yatsuhashi still have to work on our teamwork as well," Coco said.

"Well, that's what we're here for," Vaughn replied.

Then a collective buzz was heard, leaving everyone wondering as to what it was, puzzled looks upon their faces. Finally, Fox was the first to realize what was causing it; he reached down into his pocket, and pulled out his Scroll. After a swipe of his thumb, his eyes widened.

"Hey," Fox said in the loudest voice he could, and he ran up the stairs to his team, while showing the message to Vaughn, who took a few moments to read over it.

"Sis, do you see this?" Vaughn called out; from his vantage point he wasunable to see Cecilia looking down at her Scroll. Her first tightened.

 **Author's Note:**

*Because of the way RWBY is written, where there are no real-world references (at least not blatantly) I refrained from calling it the "Schlussel Stance", even though this is what the pose was based upon.


	2. 1-2: Memories and New Beginnings

Haiiden stopped at the door to his apartment before he looked back; he made sure he had packed only what was necessary, and decided to leave everything else behind. He knew he wouldn't be coming back, and figured that the management would make use of everything that had been abandoned. He paused to ponder what Ozpin had said a few nights before and concluded that returning to Beacon was the best option; he stepped out the door. After turning in his keys to the receptionist in building's office, he spotted Zed waiting for him outside with his usual cheesy grin. Haiiden waved at him and proceeded to walk out of the rental office, duffle bag in hand.

"Since we're already enrolled at Beacon, I think we can skip the airship ride over and just take a more direct mode of transport there," Zed pointed out and leaned his head while he looked at him inquisitively.

"You sure? I don't mind taking the scenic route, and besides, it lets us scout out the newcomers," Haiiden replied.

Zed smirked and Haiiden immediately knew that his friend had taken him out of context. "Oh… 'scout' huh?" Zed asked and leaned in with a quirked brow.

"I mean scout out the Huntsmen material. I want to make sure that Ozpin's choosing the right people," Haiiden replied with a scoff and he shook his head in frustration. However, it was something that Haiiden was familiar with, and it made him smile. "You can ogle the ladies all you want in the meantime."

Zed's ears popped out excitedly and he waved for Haiiden to follow as they both made their way to the landing pad. Zed was already way ahead of him as he jogged towards Vale's heliport, and upon arrival, Haiiden could see a large group of people gathering for one of the many airships. Faunus and humans alike. Many of them young, and he then thought that maybe it wasn't fair to judge them so early; people tended hide a lot of things about themselves, especially their skills.

A smile played across his face as he heard the excited chatter from the people around him. New students who were thrilled to be given an opportunity to join such a prestigious Academy, and screams of joy could be heard as old friends reunited, while others planned on how they would leave good first impressions. How they would impress the teachers on their first day in the hopes it would make their time at Beacon easier.

Once entrance into the airship was permitted, he casually made his way inside and chose a secluded seat in the corner as he continued to watch the new prospects. Many of them discussed how they would ace their classes, and prove their mettle, but none of them had met Glynda. It was difficult to impress her, and when impressed, she rarely showed it. The idea of the Huntsman life being easy had reluctantly departed Haiiden's mind long ago. The school was founded to prepare for the next generation of guardians, the Huntsmen and Huntresses; it wasn't meant to be easy by any means.

Zed eagerly zipped around to the nearest group of girls with an eager smile, only to leave to the next one after the inevitable rejection came. Haiiden watched as he found amusement that, despite the rejections, he still wore a smile. His persistence was something that he admired about his friend. Eventually, Haiiden gave a thumbs up to Zed when the fox-Faunus finally got a girl's number, although Haiiden reasoned that it was probably done out of pity.

His attention then switched to the different faces as the last of the newcomers that queued in line to be led aboard the airship; each one beamed with excitement as they expressed how thrilled they were to be attending Beacon. Some discovered similarities with one another, which immediately lead to new friendships being forged as they shared their frenzied anticipation.

Then the thought of how excited he was to be admitted into Beacon occurred to him which only widened the smile on his face. His thoughts trailed back to the newcomers and he began to wonder if the entrance exam this year would be similar to that of his entrance exam, and if they were ready for what lay ahead.

Surely they must be, otherwise Ozpin wouldn't have offered them the opportunity to attend Beacon in the first place. As the thought lingered, he then began to question whether or not _he_ was ready, and he knew the likely answer he would receive from Glynda. If he was admitted to Beacon because of his mother, that landed him in the position to attend the Academy by legacy rather than merit.

Haiiden had been taken in by Ozpin, after the headmaster had discovered him at his home outside of Vale once his mother, a Huntress, had been killed by what was described as an unusually large group of Grimm. Haiiden had never seen her fight before but he was told that, coupled with his mother's appearance, it was an absolute spectacle to experience her in combat. Her white hair waved in the air and it was as if she was moving in an elegantly choreographed dance as she fought against the Grimm.

On the other hand, his father, who was also a Huntsman, had previously left her to go fight in a conflict between the Faunus and the Humans called "The Faunus Rights Revolution", or, as it was more commonly known, "The Faunus War". A lot of people had condemned him, as well as many other Huntsman who chose sides; a monster slayer who took sides in a war and because of that, he was no longer recognized as a Huntsman. Haiiden never knew his father, but was told that he always defended those who couldn't defend themselves, which was the textbook definition of a Huntsman's creed. That was why he, even as a human, sided with the Faunus as he saw the oppression they suffered and he took the only action he felt was left to him. However, after the war had ended, he disappeared, and even his mother had never seen him again.

Ozpin had told him that he knew his parents back when they all went to Beacon Academy together. Which was also where Ozpin met Glynda Goodwitch, she was a transfer student from another academy in the Kingdom of Mistral: Haven Academy.

As Glynda continued to socialize with Ozpin, she grew to admire him and eventually developed a profound respect for him. Ever since, she had never left Ozpin's side and continued to assist him after he had become Beacon's Headmaster. He was not above controversy, however, as Ozpin had been questioned as to how he ran Beacon, especially after he had ignored most please to not allow Faunus to attend the school because of the ongoing conflict with the White Fang.

As the airship took off, memories flooded his mind as he recalled the grueling training that both Ozpin and Glynda had put him through during his adolescence. So many early mornings and an equal number of sore nights. At first they tried to probe him, to see what combat style best suited Haiiden; maybe he had an affinity for "Dust": the arcane. Haiiden could defend himself against most magical attacks but he could never use it as a weapon properly, as he lacked the nuance to be able to control the reactions of Dust properly, and the results proved to be... explosive.

Then they tried to see if ranged combat was better suited to his style, but, impatient by nature, Haiiden could never sit still long enough to properly aim and the idea was dropped as well. So in the end, it was decided that the melee would be most appropriate and while common, it was still a respectable combat style, and he began to train with the sword, one that he had been left by his mother. He groaned for a moment as he continued to remember the hours upon hours of study. Even though he was learning to fight, he still had to learn the basics: math, creative writing, literature, and so on. At first, history was his most hated subject, but that only lasted for a while as his bond with Doctor Oobleck grew stronger.

"It is important for you to learn about humanity's history, Haiiden." Ozpin always told him. "Remember what it is you protect, and remember why you chose this path, so that it can propel you forward. So you can create your own destiny, and a legacy of your own."

He had always enjoyed his time with Ozpin and often skipped schoolwork to spend time with him by playing some chess. They would discuss about his parents as well as his future and more often than not, Ozpin's wisdom was comforting. Glynda wasn't as merciful in that regard, often slapping his wrists with her riding crop, and scolding him when he ditched his work or otherwise wouldn't get things right. However, she knew that he was just a child and there were rare, tender moments, of course, times where Haiiden would feel like he had a mother again. As time went on and his mind matured and began to formulate independent ideas, he and Glynda would often butt heads and of course, she would win; her magic would often leave a sting that lasted for days.

"A Huntsman's life isn't easy," Ozpin would often say with a soft, yet commanding voice while Glynda stood behind him, nodding her head in agreement to every point that Ozpin made. "We will push your limits, so that you can harden yourself for the road ahead."

Haiiden snapped back to reality as he heard screams of joy, presumably from two friends who had found each other on the airship. He turned to see a petite girl with short black and red hair, and a similarly black and red skirt cinched at the wasted and laced up her belly, hugging a girl with a mane of blonde hair all the way down her back. The girl, who was a head taller than the shorter girl, was buxom, and wore a tan and yellow outfit. He then looked out the window and recognized the landscape around him, there was still some time, so he closed his eyes and reminisced.

* * *

Just a year before, he too had stood at the edge of a cliff, and at the bottom was the expanse of the Emerald Forest; it had been his entrance exam, his initiation into Beacon Academy.

"This exercise will test your wit, strength, and will to survive," Ozpin announced as he stood near the group of potential students, Haiiden and Zed among them, each of the first-years standing on metal plates that would propel them into the forest at the appropriate time. "It will also determine your teammates, those who will be your partners for the duration of your time at Beacon. You will be launched into the forest, and your teammate will be the first person you make eye contact with; they will remain your teammate for the next four years. Make your way to the center of the forest and retrieve one of the artifacts left there. You will be picked up by Bullhead once we have confirmed that everyone has made it. Now, any questions?"

Silence was all that answered Ozpin.

"Good," Ozpin said whimsically.

And just as Ozpin finished, one by one, each student was launched into the air towards the forest below. As he began to fall, Haiiden spread his arms and used the drag from his coat to slow his descent. He dropped towards the canopy of the forest, and raised his gauntlet to block the incoming branches, each branch breaking with a loud crunch as it came in contact with him. When he had a decelerated to a safe enough speed, he lightly stepped on a branch, and then jumped to the next one, using whatever momentum he had left to grab on and swing himself back up into the air. Finally, he landed on a bough above the roof of the forest and atop of one of the trees; this one wasn't the highest in the forest, but still allowed him to see for miles into the distance. He scanned his surroundings as he tried to figure out where the "center" of the forest was; concerned, he wondered if they had been blasted into its general direction.

" _Come on, they wouldn't make this easy; think!_ " Haiiden mused to himself, but then, the sudden rustling of leaves below made him divert his attention to the ground. He jumped down from branch to branch before he finally got a view of the forest's floor, only to be met with a gunshot and a thud as a Boarbatusk slammed onto the ground. He looked for the source of the gunfire, and noticed another one of the students, similar to him in age, holding up an assault rifle with glowing scarlet accents from the Dust infused into the weapon. The student had grey hair that was neatly kept and combed back so that it hung at the back of his neck. He seemed to be wearing a blue military trench coat, which was interesting, since most of the Vale solidiers wore grey; this gave Haiiden the impression that it was probably custom made, and likely an affectation.

As Haiiden continued to watch the young man, he saw that he was still wary and was navigating in circles with his rifle raised to scan his surroundings. Upon spotting Haiiden, he instinctively raised he rifle and only when he noticed that Haiiden was a fellow student, did he lower it. Eye contact had been made, the student smiled softly and greeted Haiiden with a wave. Haiiden responded with a nod and jumped down from the branch and onto the ground. His greaves made a loud "clank" as he touched the earth and approached his new partner; he could see that his hand was already outstretched, ready to greet him.

"The name is Vaughn Sceryei, sir. I guess we'll be working together," the young man, Vaughn, announced as Haiiden reached out and shook his hand.

"I guess so. Call me Haiiden," he responded and Vaughn nodded in acknowledgement, and with his rifle lowered to his side, he then proceeded to click his heels and gave a salute.

"Well, sir, let's make our way north," Vaughn suggested suddenly which caught Haiiden slightly off-guard and he began to look around.

"North?" Haiiden asked as he realized he could hardly tell which direction anywhere was at this point.

"Of course sir. Judging from the position of the sun, north would be that way," Vaughn said, as he pointed behind him. "Which is where I am assuming we have to be."

Haiiden nodded, glad that he had met someone who had a better sense of direction than he did.

"Sure thing, but please don't call me 'sir'," Haiiden asked in a way that he hoped conveyed politeness and respect but Vaughn just stared blankly at Haiiden.

"Of course," Vaughn responded with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, and they both began to make their way north.

Haiiden cautiously kept his hand on the hilt of his sword while walking with Vaughn, whose rifle was raised, ready to fire at any Grimm that would attempt to ambush them. His new teammate didn't seem to talk much, which made Haiiden feel a little uncomfortable, and it was at times like these that he wished he was with Zed. Even though he could get a little annoyed at Zed's constant chatter after a while, he would have at least lightened the mood. After what Haiiden determined to be about a mile or two, crackles of Dust being discharged into magic could be felt in the air, and the sound of sword and bone clashing against each other were apparent.

A fight.

Haiiden and Vaughn immediately looked to one another before they each made the decision to dash towards the fight. After they had confirmed that there was definitely a battle, their attention immediately switched to the direction of the noise and they both began to make their way towards it, double-time.

As they got closer to the combat zone, which was obvious as the sounds got louder and the crackling in the atmosphere became more intense, the duo knelt behind a plot of bushes to survey the area, only to spot another pair of students: one was a male with dark skin, orange hair and his eyes appeared to be all white. He held two small swords, with the blades extending along his forearm and up towards his elbows.

Right beside him, was a small Faunus girl with long brown rabbit ears, using kicks and quick attacks, which was not surprising for someone with Faunus traits. However, she mixed magic and the use of Dust along with her agility attacks; upon closer inspection, signs of fatigue could be seen in the two as the horde of Grimm began to grow numerous. This was a chance to make a good impression for potential teammates.

"We should help them," Haiiden whispered to Vaughn, who nodded his head in agreement and stood up as he readied his weapon. Haiiden watched as it mechanically reconfigured itself into a sniper rifle, which must have been another effect of the Dust being fused with technology.

"You go in and I'll cover you from here." Vaughn said as he aimed down the scope of his weapon and fired the first shot. The shot was loud and sent out a blast wave that parted all the bushes near them. It hit dead on into an Ursa's head and the force of the impact caused the head to explode in a dazzling display of red Dust. For a moment, the battle seemed to freeze in a tableau, as both the Grimm and the two other students turned to see where the shot had come from. Haiiden then jumped out of the bushes and into view, leaping over the darker male and landed with a roll, before severing the legs of a Beowolf that was sneaking up behind him. As its body fell, Haiiden brought his sword up and quickly finished it off and he cleaved its head in twain. A few more gun-blasts could be heard as Vaughn continued to fire upon the Grimm, and seemed to clear out most of them by himself.

Haiiden and his newfound allies proceeded to mop up the rest of the Grimm with ease. The darker male turned around and stuck the edge of his blade into the knee of an Ursa, then proceeded to jump on its incapacitated leg, and with a backflip, he finished it off with a slash to its throat. The Faunus girl could be seen backing away from another Grimm, not in retreat, but rather to give herself room as she waved a hand in front of her. Haiiden noticed blue Dust that trailed from her sleeves which then began to take shape, before she closed her fist to form it into a spear. As the Grimm lunged at her, she grabbed her new weapon and threw it at her attacker, launching it back with such force that it was impaled against a tree.

The battle had been won, but it would not be the last, as the two pairs looked around to make sure that there were no more Grimm. Once it was safe, Haiiden turned to wave for Vaughn to join them but noticed the bushes rustling behind him and turned to see that an Ursa had begun to sneak up on Vaughn. As Haiiden cupped his hands to call out a warning, Vaughn had quickly turned around and a blade which was about the length of his forearm, appeared from under his sleeve. He then quickly brought his arm up and thrust the blade into the Ursa's neck, killing it instantly. Haiiden let out a sigh of relief as Vaughn silently made his way back to the group, leaving the corpse of the Ursa to slowly turn to black smoke.

"Thanks for the help," the Faunus girl said with a shy and hesitant smile, and a clipped Northern accent, not unlike Zed's. "The name's Velvet Scarletina, and this is Fox Alistair."

The man named Fox just nodded as the Faunus named Velvet turned to point at him, and he put his blades into sheaths that were attached to a belt beneath his waist.

"It was no problem at all. It now makes getting out of here much easier. The name's Haiiden," he responded while Vaughn seemed to ignore the introductions and was looking up at the sky. Velvet and Fox both looked at Vaughn expectantly, awaiting his introduction.

"This way," Vaughn said suddenly and pointed past Velvet and Fox, the pair standing there almost surprised and confused for a moment as they still did not know his name. While they stood there silently, Vaughn looked back until he realized why they were looking at him oddly. "Oh, Vaughn."

Velvet waved at him, the concern having left her, and was left with a smile as Fox nodded at him in greeting. Once introductions were out of the way, they all began to follow Vaughn's lead as they weaved around the trees. They eventually came to rest near a cliff where Vaughn had already started to scan the area with the scope on his rifle, but then suddenly stopped.

"There," Vaughn said as he reached in to his pocket, pulled out a pair of binoculars, and handed it to Haiiden as he approached. Haiiden stopped as he took the equipment, and looked at Vaughn, who was still fixated on a particular object. Haiiden took the binoculars and looked through them, as he tried to spot what it was that Vaughn was so obsessed with. After adjusting the focus, he noticed a couple of pillars that were sticking out of the canopy of the forest.

"You think that's the center?" Haiiden asked as he handed the binoculars to Fox, who also wanted to look through them. He then handed them to Velvet, and turned to Haiiden only to respond with a shrug.

"Would be our best bet," Vaughn replied while he kept his eyes on the ruins.

"So lets take a look, maybe?" Velvet joined in as she twirled one of her bunny ears in between her fingers nervously, despite her apparent, initial hesitation, but then tried to make herself look small as everyone's attention fixed on her. Everyone looked to one another to see if it was a majority decision, with everyone nodding at one another in agreement to Velvet's suggestion.

Taking the initiative, Haiiden was the first to leap off the cliff, with the others joined shortly after as they slid along the rock face and rolled as they hit the bottom and waited for everyone to meet up. As Velvet finally made it down, they picked their way to the ruins and had quickly reached a clearing, with the pillars now in sight. In the middle of the clearing, there was a circular ruin with a single stone table at its center, and as they stepped closer they discovered a chess set.

"Is this the artifact?" Fox asked while looking at it with disbelief while Velvet stared at it. "This is what we're here for?"

Haiiden smiled to himself, of course Ozpin _would_ make this part of the test; cheesy and yet appropriate, to an extent. Without thinking, he reached forward and picked up the first piece, the Queen.

"Look who finally made it!" Everyone but Haiiden jumped as they were startled by the sudden voice while Vaughn immediately raised his weapon at the potential threat. Haiiden smile grew bigger and began to laugh as he turned to face his friend.

"Zed, how did you get here so fast?" Haiiden asked as he walked towards Zed.

"I had a bit of help, mate," Zed said as he pointed to another student whom Haiiden guessed was the first person that Zed had made eye contact with. A young woman who looked and dressed eerily similar to Vaughn. She had long, purple hair but most notable was the larger than normal claymore that she had on her back. She stalked forward, her hands balled into fists and her eyes narrowed as she stared down the group as she quickly pushed her way past them; ignoring even Velvet, who was greeting her with a wave and she continued to stalk towards a now nervous Vaughn, who was then struck on the cheek by this young woman.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not point that friendlies? Put it away Vaughn!" she snapped at him while Vaughn's head rolled, and seemed cower before her like a dog who was being disciplined.

"Sorry sis," Vaughn said and held his cheek, slowly standing back up as the woman calmed down.

"Oh, so this is your brother, huh?" Zed asked, but the young woman ignored Zed, as she turned her attention to the rest of the group. Her eyes scanned each individual student before they finally stopped on Haiiden.

"So which one of you came with my brother?" She asked in a raised voice but nobody knew how to react, especially after they had witnessed how she just treated her own kin. Haiiden swallowed nervously and was hesitant at first but then stepped forward to stand alongside Vaughn.

"Sir, this is my twin sister, Cecilia Sceryei," Vaughn said as he continued to rub the spot where he had been struck on the cheek. Cecilia tilted her head and eyed Haiiden from head to toe as if she was examining him. Then she raised a brow at him and this further increased the feeling of nervousness that Haiiden felt.

"Thank you for watching over my brother," she finally said after a few moments of silence and saluted him. Haiiden had never met anyone like these two, especially those who were so formal in how they spoke and it left him bewildered as he tried to figure out how to respond.

"Doesn't seem like he needed any help: he handled himself quite well," Haiiden responded, he had seen first-hand how well Vaughn fought, and it had left him with a good first impression.

"Despite his outstanding ability to fight, he is my brother and I worry for his safety," she said and turned to her brother; if Haiiden hadn't been standing so close to her, he wouldn't have noticed the gentle smile that she gave to Vaughn. Zed then poked out from behind her and waved a chess piece in the air, the second queen.

"Gotta love the birds, man," Zed pointed out and smiled again as he looked up at Cecilia, who only replied with a harsh glare. Zed swallowed nervously and kept his smile although it was wavering slightly.

At that moment, the last pair of students appeared from the west edge of the clearing. A tall man, roughly seven feet in height, with black hair and a dark skin tone, but not as dark as Fox's. With a brown robe and a blade much larger than Cecilia's hanging from his back. Alongside him was a woman wearing a barrette and sunglasses with brown hair and red highlights. She was carrying a peculiar designer handbag at her side which was what really grabbed his attention. As they approached the group, she gave off a little wave while the taller man stopped a few feet back and stood with his arms crossed.

"Sorry we are late, hope we can still get this artifact," she said, and in unison, everyone else all turned to point to the ruins. "Thanks."

She left into the rubble and when she came back, and everyone could see the piece that she had taken out of the stone temple: the golden rook. Fox sighed to himself as he pulled out the piece that he had in his pocket, the other rook.

"So, I am guessing this is everyone, so now we wait for someone to come and get us then?" She asked.

"Pretty much," Zed replied in an elated voice as he examined the new girl. "We can just relax, and share stories about ourselves."

"Fair enough," She replied. "My name is Coco. Coco Adel and this guy-"

She then pointed to the seven-foot tall Eastern male who was already approaching her and despite his size, he didn't seem so intimidating. If anything, he seemed more protective in his bearing, the way he stood over Coco as he stopped behind her. She looked up at him as if she was asking permission and he simply responded with a nod.

"This guy is Daichi Yatsuhashi, he's from Mistral. Don't mind him, I tried to get him to talk for a while, but the most all I was able to get out of him was his name," Coco finished. The group greeted them with a salute from the twins, a nod from Fox and Haiiden, and a wave from Zed, but it was Velvet who approached the large man.

"Hello, Yatsuhashi," she said to him, as she remembered that in Mistral, the surname came first; Yatsuhashi looked down at the young Faunus and clasped his hands together before he responded with a low, elaborate bow. At that moment, what started as a hissing in the distance turned into a loud roar, which came from the engines of the Bullhead VTOL that came to pick them up. It lowered itself toward the ground and the air underneath it was being blown violently around the group of students. Everyone shielded themselves from the wind, but suddenly a loud screech could be heard as the VTOL became engulfed in a green liquid which began to eat through its armor. The liquid worked its way into the engines, which caused them to explode, and the VTOL came crashing to the ground.

Everyone stood frozen in shock at what they witnessed, but shortly after, they all made their way to the crashed VTOL, with Velvet reaching in to pull out the surviving copilot from the burning wreck. As he was pulled out, she peeked into the cockpit and she could see clearly that the pilot was dead. She turned back to help Fox, who had his arm around the copilot and they both carried him to the safety and cover of the ruins. A loud crash was heard as the Bullhead wreck was knocked away and into the forest, setting several trees on fire. Appearing at the edge of the clearing was a giant Grimm in the form of a giant spider.

"Attercoppe!" Cecilia yelled out and ran towards Velvet and Fox to cover them as they escorted the copilot to the ruins. Vaughn quickly raised his assault rifle, his hand sliding over the mag release button to eject the magazine from his rifle. He then replaced it with another magazine with a crude label taped over it with the words "HIGH EXPLOSIVE" printed on it. Haiiden and Yatsuhashi dashed forward to meet the new threat, Haiiden's sword already in hand as Yatsuhashi simply reached for the hilt of his sword. Rustling could be heard around them as more Grimm appeared at the edges of the clearing. With a grin, Coco cracked her neck as she slowly walked towards the first Grimm. When it suddenly lunged at her, she quickly countered by swinging her bag with such force, that the Grimm's skull was embedded into the ground.

Zed pulled out a large karambit from inside his shirt and held it ready as he stared down a group of Beowolves who were ready to lunge towards him. The first one ran at him and swung at Zed with its claws, but missed as Zed likewise lunged underneath its swing and grabbed its arm, before flinging it towards another Beowolf. The next one attacked, but Zed caught its arm before it gained full momentum, and hooked his karambit into its swinging limb.

A piercing howl came out of the Beowolf until Zed forced it down as he kicked it behind the knees; with a swift motion, he severed its head from its body. One by one, the Beowolves attacked, and Zed quickly dodged and counterattacked with his knife which ranged from short pokes, to precise cuts at their necks.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, something struck Zed on the cheek which made him spin as he staggered to the right. With a deep breath, he shook his head and sheathed his karambit; the last thing the Beowolf heard and saw was a flash of orange and a growl as Zed lunged forward, knocking down the Beowolf while grasping at its jaws. With a quick jerk, he split its skull in half.

The Attercoppe swung its leg at Haiiden and Yatsuhashi, but missed as both dodged in opposite directions. Yatsuhashi rolled to his left while Haiiden slid on his knees to the right and had leaned back to avoid the attack. He had narrowly avoided it as the creature's leg passed over him, and he quickly got up and swung his sword as it pulled the leg back. The attack connected as he felt the blade slice its leg, and although it did visible damage, the creature was unhindered. Yatsuhashi then pulled out his blade and swung at the other leg, but the strike was much too wide, which allowed the giant Grimm to step back and avoid his attack.

Sounds of gunshots could be heard from behind them, as Vaughn was covering Coco and both tried to defend the rear from the smaller Grimm. The west was covered by the ruins where Fox and Velvet reemerged from after they dropped of the copilot, with Fox's weapons in hand. He quickly ran off to help the east flank with Cecilia, leaving Velvet to protect the pilot.

Cecilia stood with her claymore in both hands and held it over her head, ready to swing at a moment's notice. The Creeps seemed hesitant to attack at first but one foolishly decided to rush and in one, swift strike from Cecilia, the Creep was cut in half. Another jumped at Cecilia, but she remained unphased and didn't turn to face the new threat, as Fox intercepted it, knocking it down before plunging both of his blades into its head.

Haiiden ran forward and jumped on the Attercoppe's head, trying his best to bring his blade down on top of it but was flung off as the creature shook violently. He managed to regain his balance in the air by twisting his body and was able to land on his feet; upon landing, he was forced to quickly jump back as the creature counterattacked. Another crash was heard as the creature struck the ground, which left a crater where Haiiden had been standing just moments before. More gunshots now, even faster than what Vaughn's rifle could fire, and everyone turned to see that Coco's bag had turned into a six-barreled, rotating machine gun, and she began to mow down the Grimm along with Vaughn. With this endless barrage of bullets, Vaughn made a tactical retreat and made his way to the pillars and climbed to the top which overlooked the clearing. His rifle turned sniper, he surveyed the fight, taking shots at any Grimm that got too close to any of allies. With each shot eating more Dust than in its rifle form.

The Attercoppe reeled back and spat out more acid at the group, and knowing what it was capable of if it touched anyone, coupled with her Aura and Dust, Velvet created a barrier on top of each student. A bit of the acid splashed off someone else's barrier, and landed next to her, which made her flinch and forced her to lose concentration, causing the array of barriers to fail. As their personal protection had vanished, everyone was left with no option but to run for cover. Coco rolled away, and Vaughn had quickly shot into the head of a Boarbatusk that had lunged at Coco. The acid had also struck some of the Grimm and killed most of them instantly, while some just melted slowly as they came in contact with the green substance. As Cecilia watched, she winced at the thought of what would have happened if it had landed on any of them. A Grimm saw that Velvet was momentarily distracted, but Cecilia saw that its attack was coming in time, and used the weight of her claymore to force herself into a spin, cleaving the Grimm as she swung the sword behind her. When she was finished, Cecilia gave Velvet a thumbs up with a smile.

The praise made Velvet blush, but quickly shook it off, it seemed as though all of the smaller Grimm were dead, and that was left was the Attercoppe; everyone regrouped with Yatsuhashi and Haiiden, both of whom had whittled down the monster somewhat. It went in for another attack, but, already fatigued and missing a couple limbs, it was too slow to react as Yatsuhashi countered and severed a leg like a hot knife through warm butter. Haiiden then took the opportunity to jump on another one of the legs and proceeded to sever that one as well. Vaughn quickly switched magazines again but this time to one labeled "SABOT" and began to fire at the creature's eyes, with Coco having joined in as well. As a last-ditch effort, and with everyone in such a tight group, the Attercoppe reared back as it got ready to spit again.

Velvet anticipated the attack, and created a barrier in front of the mouth of the Attercoppe, forcing the acid to splash back into its face as the barrier prevented it from coming out. With her arms outstretched, as the barrier failed, she then snapped her fingers and the barrier changed so that the acid froze as it came out. The effects of which, resulted in a giant green icicle and the cold effect worked its way down into the creature and lodged itself into its throat. As she saw the opportunity, Coco ran up and while she used her designer bag, she hit it with an uppercut which propped the icicle in the air.

"Hey, Yatsu?" Yatsuhashi heard and quirked a brow at the strange pronunciation of his name. He turned around to see Zed, casually walking up to him with his hands clasped behind his head.

"Bet you can't throw me up there," Zed continued.

With a nod, Yatsuhashi stretched out his hand, to which Zed hopped up onto it and was then launched into the air. In midair, Zed casually pulled back on his fingerless gloves and started to wind his arm back. As he came down, his eyes flashed orange as he punched the icicle, sending shards everywhere and forced the green lance even further down into the Attercoppe's throat. It pierced the body of the creature and impaled it, pinning it to the ground, as the acid began to melt and dissolve the thorax of the monster. Everyone eyed the lifeless body of the Arachnid for a moment and collectively held their breaths as it collapsed in a heap; only after they realized it was dead, did they exhale in relief.

"Woo! That was brilliant!" yelled Zed as he landed and everyone else began to laugh at his enthusiasm, even Yatsuhashi. Velvet, however, had already run back into the ruins to pull out the copilot, who already seemed to be doing much better with the help of Velvet's magic. The same loud roaring from a VTOL could be heard as another one came to retrieve everyone. This time, it didn't make a proper landing as the area was rapidly becoming more dangerous, with even more Grimm incoming. Everyone jumped onto aircraft, with Zed helping Velvet as both jumped in with the copilot in tow.

* * *

Haiiden's mind returned to the present as Beacon came into full view. He stood up to look out the window, having to stand on his toes to look over the heads of the new students as they pressed their faces against the glass. The craft came in for a soft landing, and Haiiden made his way off the airship; he and Zed proceeded through the entrance of Beacon.

"Zed! Haiiden!" The familiar and yet comforting voice of Velvet was heard from behind them. They turned to see Velvet had quickly approached them with the rest of team CFVY behind her.

"Haven't seen you guys in a while!" she said with excitement as she stopped right in front of Haiiden and Zed, who were looking at her with a smile as she greeted them.

"Yeah, it has been a while Velvet," Haiiden replied as he beamed at her.

"I thought you dropped out?" Coco asked after she had caught up with Velvet, looking up from her sunglasses at him as she slid them down the bridge of her nose.

"Not according to Ozpin," Haiiden replied and shrugged.

"Your team wasn't really happy about you leaving. You should probably check in on them," Velvet responded with a frown, while Yatsuhashi nodded in agreement and Fox stood silently as he stared. However, the serious tone in the reunion didn't last long and after a few moments of catching up, and with Haiiden explaining what he had been up to in between school years, he waved farewell to the team who in return waved back. However, a look of concern creeped on each one of their faces. At first Haiiden noticed their concern but shrugged it off. To reach the dormitories they had to pass the dining hall to the west wing. At the start of the year, the dining hall was used to house the newcomers for the first night.

" _There are so many._ " He thought to himself as he walked in and saw how many sleeping bags were laid out for each of the students. At first he smiled as he thought of the new students, the next generation of guardians who would bring light to a dark world, but then frowned as he wondered how many of them, if any, would make the cut. His mind went back to his first year, after the initial trial and when the teams were chosen. He didn't really pay attention to most of the teams as all he wanted to see was who he was going to be paired up with.

Haiiden had finally made it to the door to his dorm and a sudden strike to his head forced him back into reality just as he opened the door. After he reeled into the corner and collapsed, he looked up to see that Cecilia stood over him with her hands tightened into fists. The twins had both changed since the months that he had been gone, with Cecilia's hair now covering half of her face, while Vaughn's grew a couple inches but he kept it neatly combed down the back of his head. Vaughn had a face that expressed a bit of pity as well as sympathy, while Cecilia looked down and was visibly angry.

"Look who decided to show up! Our illustrious leader!" she spat as she watched Haiiden stand back up and held his cheek where Cecilia had struck him.

"I thought you'd be happy to see me," he responded with a half smile as he turned his attention to Vaughn.

"We are, sir, but since you left the academy, it has effected the rest of us, too. 'We all pass together or we all fail together', according to Ozpin," Vaughn responded and Cecilia pulled back for another punch which Haiiden blocked but received a left counter to the stomach and fell to his knees. Cecilia stood over him and breathed heavily out of frustration and anger as she watched Haiiden stand up again.

"Welcome back, sir." Vaughn said with sincerity, although still worried as to how his sister would respond, as she looked at him bitterly.

"You left us sir; you were our leader, and you abandoned us," she threw at him like a rock, and her words were as cold as ice. Haiiden, after a few moments of regaining his breath stood straight. He was holding his head high and looked down at Cecilia.

"I know, I am sorry. Lets just try to get back on track" Haiiden said, and Cecilia's eyes widened, enraged to hear that this was all he had to say, then pulled her arm back for another attack.

"Ahem." Everyone heard and turned to the open door to see that Glynda Goodwitch was standing outside of it, apparently having borne witness to the reunion. Cecilia stopped herself mid-punch and stepped back into a more passive stance, with her hands behind her back.

"The Headmaster would like a word," Glynda said and immediately disappeared from view, while everyone turned to each other and quickly followed behind her.

* * *

When they had finally made it to the Headmaster's office, the sun had already set, and the room was bathed in the glow of candles lit variously around the room. Everyone stood before Ozpin in single file with their hands behind their backs and backs straight, even Zed, who was not normally the type for such formalities.

"Seems like the team is whole again, good," Ozpin said as he stood with his hands behind his back as well. "Welcome to a new year at Beacon. I had already spoken with the more senior students, CFVY included. Think of this as a short orientation, if you will."

The group continued to stand at attention and looked straight, except for Haiiden, who kept his eyes on Ozpin.

"Due to your leader leaving the Academy, you have all failed your first year and will have to repeat it. However, due to you being senior students, some of the first year rules won't apply to you," Ozpin continued as he paced back in forth in front of the team and made eye contact with each one as he passed in front of them. "Some of the students are nervous and we need to look out for each other. We need that kind of union now more than ever. Help them, guide them and pass on your wisdom to the new students. Dark times are coming, and we must be ready."

With those words, a grin washed over Haiiden's face as a new sense of determination filled him.

"Haiiden, Anders 'Zed', Vaughn, and Cecilia. The team is now reunited, and I expect much more from veteran students. You have shown promise, and I know you won't fail me," Ozpin announced while everyone acknowledged Ozpin's praise by standing straighter, then Ozpin smiled and walked in front of Haiiden to look him in the eye.

"Welcome back: Team HAVC."


	3. 1-3: Old Faculty, New Teams

" _Where am I?_ " Haiiden thought as he realized he was laying down on a couch in front of a fireplace. As he sat upright, his neck was stiff and it hurt as he tried to move it to look around. " _How did I get here?_ "

As he began to scan his surroundings, whatever confusion he felt immediately had left him, and was instead replaced with a subtle warmth. He noticed that the room was lit by a fire that resonated with a comforting glow; however, something else added to the feeling of comfort that he felt the longer he sat there, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. All of a sudden, he heard the sound of humming nearby; it was a woman from the sound of it, and Haiiden was almost mesmerized by the melody. How harmonious it was! Like something from a fairy tale that you would recite to a child at night. The sound of the humming continued to warm his soul and Haiiden couldn't help but look around for its source. As he turned his head to the right he noticed that someone was sitting at the other end of the couch. He looked at this figure curiously, especially since there hadn't been anyone there before when he had first tried to look around. The person at the other end seemed to glow with an otherworldly light, which made Haiiden wince the longer he continued to look at it.

This mysterious person turned her head to face him, and at first, he couldn't make out was any of her features. Her hair and the light she emitted kept him from recognizing who she was. All he could see was a mouth, which turned into a smile; the gesture made Haiiden shudder in delight.

"Hello, sleepyhead" the person said to him, and he noticed how the voice seemed to match the same melodic tone as the humming; not only that, it matched the voice he had heard back when he was at Mountain Glenn. She reached out with an open palm, and Haiiden instinctively lowered his head, ready to receive her hand. Right as the hand reached Haiiden's head, the scene turned to white and he realized he was back in his dorm at Beacon Academy, laying in his bed.

* * *

The next morning, he was simply polishing his sword, but he couldn't help but stare at his reflection in the blade. He was almost embarrassed to find himself daydreaming while performing his morning duties, as well as drifting off in front of his teammates. When the thought of his team came to mind, Haiiden stopped to look at everyone. Cecilia paid no mind to her surroundings while she sat on her bedside and sharpened her claymore with a whetstone. Zed was shadow boxing in the corner of the room next to the entrance to the dormitory while Vaughn silently calibrated his rifle as he sat next to his sister.

" _This dream... Why am I seeing it again? Why now?_ " He knew who it was, and he wished that he could see her face again. However, there was a time and place for everything, and now was not the time to dwell on dreams; he then decided it was best to banish the thoughts from his mind for now. He reached for a bottle of oil, as well as a fresh cloth. As he grabbed what he needed to clean his greaves and gauntlet, he noticed the uncomfortable silence in the room; no words were exchanged between his teammates. The silence began to annoy him and he decided to break the ice by humming the tune that he heard in the little world he had stumbled upon during his dream.

Zed stumbled forward as the silence was broken and the sudden humming broke his concentration. As he looked to each teammate to find the source, he smiled and shook his head as he noticed that it was just Haiiden, and then he went back to his routine. The humming calmed his nerves and he decided to allow Haiiden to have this moment. Vaughn looked up as he stopped his calibrations to see Zed's and Cecilia's reactions, and was left slightly confused as to why his leader was humming. Even Cecilia had stopped sharpening her claymore, but she didn't look up from her sword. Instead, she shook her head and after a long, drawn out sigh, she resumed her duties. She looked to be all right now, but Haiiden knew not to trust his assumptions when it came to Cecilia. She hid her feelings well, sometimes behind a smile, and sometimes without any expression at all. Haiiden was unsettled as he remembered her tirade from the night before.

* * *

"I can't believe Ozpin would even let you back in to Beacon, let alone continue to allow you be part of this team, lto say nothing of making you its leader again!" Cecilia growled as she stomped through the door and into their dorm after their visit with Ozpin. She paced back and forth in front of her bed while Zed walked in with Vaughn, and the pair both just jumped onto their beds. All the while, they both hoped that they would not to be drawn into the argument. Haiiden was the last person to enter the room and slowly closed the door behind him before he turned to see that Cecilia stared at him intensely.

"In the military, that would be considered desertion, you would be court-martialed and imprisoned for that! But here? You got away without as much as a slap on the wrist and the rest of us have already paid the price!" She yelled and Haiiden couldn't help but feel guilt swell inside him. Ozpin always wanted the teams to work together, so either every student in a team passed, or none of them did. However, he still felt that his reasons for leaving were sound and hopefully they would understand.

"I don't know how many more times I can say that I'm sorry, Cecilia." Haiiden said, and immediately regretted it, as he watched Cecilia's expression turn from mere anger to outright rage after hearing his words.

"'Sorry' isn't enough for us having to repeat another year!" She yelled out again.. Haiiden looked at her for a moment, cowed.

"Why do you think I left in the first place? Nobody wants to be here, we want to do what is best for humanity!" Haiiden replied.

"You should of thought about what was best for all of us first! We're your team! _I_ would _never_ have abandoned my team, if I were our leader!" Cecilia shoved Haiiden back, and after he had regained his balance, he stood straighter and tightened his hands into fists, ready in case Cecelia's words turned to violence. However, he was no longer cowed, and raised his head just enough to glare down at her.

"I dont know, I wouldn't like a leader who throws their weight around when they are mad. Especially when they easily angered," Haiiden said as he narrowed his eyes and made eye contact. Cecilia couldn't help but grin at that, especially since it gave her more of a reason to lash out at him, and she pulled her arm back, ready to strike. However, before she was able to throw a punch, Zed and Vaughn rushed in to intervene and held her arms back.

"Sis, stop! You're right: he did leave, but he is back now; if you're going to interpret his actions in military terms, striking a superior officer is insubordination and assault, and deserving of a court-martial as well," Vaughn pointed out as he tried to appeal to her prior analogy. Haiiden continued to stare daggers at Cecilia as her breathing became heavy and fast while she tried to wrest control of her arms from her brother and Zed. Once she realized that she couldn't wrestle out of Zed's and Vaughn's grip, and the fact she didn't want to fight Zed in any case, she took a deep breath and calmed down. Once they thought it was safe to release her, they let her go, and she immediately shoved Zed and Vaughn out the way; then she began to undress. Once she had dressed down, she immediately jumped onto her bed and went to sleep without a word.

"Let's get some rest guys." Zed said with a grin as he hid the fact that the moment had even made him nervous, but now he was relieved that things had calmed down. "Tonight was rather an eventful evening."

* * *

Haiiden finished oiling his greaves and gauntlet, he stood up to test things out. He bounced in place to get a feel for his greaves and then flexed his left arm and the fingers at the end of the gauntlet.

No metal parts rubbed against one other to make the telltale sound of them scraping. The gauntlet merely made the satisfying sound of metal clacking together as the fingers moved. His observations were interrupted, as his personal Scroll pinged as it received a message, and he reached into his pocket to take a look. As he scanned the contents of the message, the rest of the team, even Cecilia, all looked up out of curiosity.

"It's Ozpin. The new students have already left on their initiation trial to determine the teams." The team corrected their positions so that they sat straighter. Knowing what this would mean, some would go home, only to be given another chance next year, while the others would stay, the chosen to join Beacon. Once he realized he had everyone's full and undivided attention, Haiiden continued to read the message. "He wants us to help the instructors finish up any final preparations. He has already given out assignments as to whom we are to visit."

"Will we be splitting up?" Cecilia asked, not looking up at her leader.

"Seems like it." Haiiden answered and didn't bother to question as to why she asked. While everyone stood up to get ready, Haiiden kept his eyes on the Scroll as he input the commands to send the list of assignments to his teammates one by one, each of their Scrolls received their assignments and they left the dorm.

* * *

Haiiden headed towards the receiving dock at the Academy, where most shipments of the school's supplies came in. He watched as a VTOL lowered itself close to the ground, and dropped a large container which had a burlap cloth draped over it. It slammed into the ground that seemed to shake the earth slightly, and the impact made a loud thud, even over the din of the engines; generally, the campus was normally quiet, and such noise was usually only found here. Out of curiosity, Haiiden stepped closer to examine the container as he walked around it. Strangely, he noticed that it had no markings on it, no name for who it was addressed to. His curiosity got the better of him and couldn't help but reach out for the cloth, and just as he was about to touch it, he was stopped by a loud voice that boomed above all of the other noises in the landing area.

"Splendid!" The sudden voice made Haiiden jump and he turned to see that it was none other than Professor Peter Port, a short, stocky man who wore a red tuxedo, and his white hair was combed neatly. He also had a large, white mustache that seemed to cover his mouth, and you could tell when he spoke by the rise and fall of that white, walrusy mustache.

"I was delighted to hear that you would be returning this year, but I had to see for myself! That is why I asked for YOU specifically to assist me in this matter!" He exclaimed and stepped up to Haiiden to place both hands on his shoulders and embraced him.

"It's good to see you again, Professor," Haiiden replied, as he smiled while he likewise embraced Professor Port. After a few seconds they finally pulled away but ProfessorPort still kept his hands on Haiiden's shoulders and looked at him silently. It seemed out of character for Port; he always liked to make a big show of things, but his silence seemed eerie, and was making Haiiden uncomfortable.

"Is everything alright, Professor?" Haiiden raised a brow and lowered his head as Peter stared for a few moments more. Finally breaking his gaze, he looked from side to side with a sigh, and brushed something off Haiiden's shoulder.

"It's nothing, my boy, just glad to see one of my star pupils return!" Professor Port roared as he slammed a hand onto the young man's arm. With his hands behind his back, he slowly stepped back and motioned towards the large container. "Now please, grab hold of the container and we shall deliver it to my classroom!"

"Sure thing," Haiiden replied, and immediately went to grab hold of the container, luckily there were wheels underneath it, which made pushing it around much easier. "And what do you mean by, 'one of your star pupils'?"

"You show amazing fighting capabilities," Professor Port remarked, before he turned back to Haiiden and peered at him through the corner of his eye "But don't let that go to your head. There are many other exceptional students in this school, but with the new year, you will have some real competition. I hope you are ready for it."

"Yes Professor, I am ready to give it my all," Haiiden replied, and with renewed strength and optimism, he pushed the container further.

" _What's in here?_ " It was almost hard to push since Haiiden had to constantly correct his own trajectory in order to better move the container. It was as if something inside was rolling around, and its weight altered its course with nearly every step that Haiiden attempted to make. He continued to listen to Peter talk about his exploits during the break in between school years.

Having been hired by the Kingdom of Vacuo to deal with a Grimm threat. Haiiden had to pay close attention to his story, not only because he had no choice but to listen, but because it was probably going to be on a test specifically for him later. Professor Port's voice boomed throughout the corridors as he spoke, and his laugh echoed through the hallways. The Professor would take momentary breaks in between his stories to stop and talk to the new students as well, as well as to ogle the female students that would pass by. It was a nice break for Haiiden too, since the container was much heavier than it looked, and normally wouldn't be this hard to push.

Haiiden breathed a sigh of relief as they finally made it to Professor Ports classroom. He entered the lecture hall, and became even more ecstatic when he noticed the stairs leading down to the floor of the classroom had been converted into a ramp. Haiiden now had to merely press against the container and to counteract the downward force as it slid down the ramp so that it wouldn't roll too fast and slam into the far wall; braking every so often so as not to lose control, they slowly made their way down the steep ramp that ran between the rows of auditorium tables and pews. Right as they were about to reach the bottom, he let it roll down whatever was left of the ramp, which gave him enough inertia to bring it around to Professor Port's desk.

"If I may be frank, I was sorely disappointed when you left." Professor Port suddenly said, which caught Haiiden slightly off guard. Professor Port stood again and his head held high as he looked at Haiiden, which felt strange to him, since he was taller than the Professor, but Port was standing on a platform, and knew he could afford to look down at Haiiden. There was a reason why his name was well known, and why people asked him for assistance. Haiiden sighed and rolled his eyes as he realized he had to sit through another lecture. First Bartholomew, Ozpin, and his team; was he now going to have to hear it from all the other instructors?

"I thought better of you, perhaps that you had a bit more integrity." Professor Port added as he waved his hand at Haiiden, or perhaps as he waved his previous comment away dismissively.

"I left because I wanted to make a difference in my own way, Professor." Haiiden responded, knowing full well the situation and how being recognized as a Huntsman worked, but he still stood by his decision.

"Unfortunately, that is just the way it is. You are no exception to the rule." The Professor responded, having not moved from his position and he chose his words carefully, which made the mustache move only slightly as he spoke.

"I know, Professor." Haiiden muttered.

"Besides, we all had a hand in training you, and it was difficult to get you into this school. What with your family's 'history'," Professor Port said as he shook his head with disappointment and turned to walk around to his desk. Haiiden winced at that word, 'history', as he walked around the container. To keep his mind off the subject, he turned towards the container, then back to Professor Port.

"So, what's in here?" Haiiden asked then knocked on the crate. As he did, it shook violently and a squealing sound emanated from it; Haiiden instinctively pulled back. After he took a few moments to eye the container, he looked back at Professor Port with a surprised expression while the Professor's mustache slowly rose, a sign that he was smiling.

* * *

Vaughn knocked politely on Doctor Oobleck's door and stood for a moment as he waited for a response. The corridor echoed as he began to whistle whatever it was that Haiiden had been humming. It did sound nice and it kind of stuck with him, but then suddenly the door swung open, which almost hit him, had he not jumped out of the way. Almost as fast as the door was opened, he was immediately yanked into the room with such force that it was almost like he was lifted off his feet and thrown inside; the door slammed shut behind him.

"Good timing, lad! I was just wondering when you'd arrive!" Oobleck told Vaughn in a patter that was so rapid that Vaughn could barely keep up with his cadence, and then took a sip from his thermos before he continued to zip around the classroom. He was out of his surveying gear, instead wearing brown pants with a white shirt that was almost tucked in all the way, except for his left side, which hung out of his pants. His tie also seemed to be a mess, and his hair spiked in all directions.

"I came as quickly as I could, sir," Vaughn explained, taking slight offense while he dodged the Professor's movements, and did his best not to get in his way. Papers flew behind him, leaving a trail wherever the Doctor had been, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice, instead zipping around from desk to desk to collect more stacks of papers. He then stacked them on top of each other and tucked them under his arm before he took another sip from his thermos.

"Ah yes, but as you can see, I am almost done here! So your help is now ALMOST unnecessary!" Just as Oobleck had finished, he then threw his thermos to Vaughn who almost fumbled it out of his grasp for a second, but managed to catch it before it hit the floor. He looked at the thermos curiously but then realized what Oobleck was about to request

"Fill that up, please!" asked Oobleck as his movements were now a little more sluggish now that he was left without his brew. Vaughn shrugged before he walked over to the coffee machine and poured a fresh batch into the thermos. However, when Oobleck wasn't looking, Vaughn took a quick whiff and realized that there was no scent. He pondered whether or not to take a quick taste, then quickly changed his mind as whatever gave Oobleck this much energy was probably best left a mystery; he proceeded to close the lid. Oobleck suddenly snatched the thermos from behind Vaughn and nodded to him while he motioned for the young man to accompany him. After they left the classroom, Oobleck quickly locked the door behind them. It wasn't until he saw the state of Oobleck's classroom again that he realized how clean the school was in comparison. Piqued, he noted the stacks of paper everywhere, with most of them having brown rings from Oobleck's coffee cups.

"I heard your team has been reunited! Good! I knew the lad would heed my words!" Oobleck exclaimed with an air of pride while he broadened his shoulders and held his head high. Vaughn immediately smiled to himself upon hearing this, and scratched the back of his head as he continued to trot behind the speeding Doctor.

"Well, from what I understood, it wasn't your words, but Ozpin's that finally convinced him to come back, sir." Vaughn interjected and gave off a soft smile he hoped that he hadn't ruined Oobleck's moment of pride. For a moment, the Doctor's pride seemed shaken but he then shrugged it off and zipped along with a grin.

"Well he does have a way with words. Nevertheless! I am sure my wisdom was a factor in it as well!" Oobleck said as he bounced back.

"Maybe. However, it almost sounded like he was forced to, though," Vaughn added but this time with a hint of concern in his voice, while Oobleck thought on this comment.

"Perhaps. The way things are now, his only choice was to either strike out on his own or come back to Beacon. Huntsman are needed but the requirements to be recognized as one are strict. However! I would like to believe that he understood what his choices were, and he chose to come back of his own volition!" Bartholomew corrected while he waggled his thermos at Vaughn like as though a parent shaking a finger to discipline an insolent child. Vaughn merely nodded and walked with the Doctor for a while; however, he struggled to keep up as what the Doctor considered "walking" was more like running.

"Ummm, I'd like to ask: is it true that Haiiden has been helping you with your research?" Vaughn asked as he pushed his glasses higher up on his nose in an attempt to hide any signs of concern. Anyone who wasn't certified, or at least recognized, as a Huntsman or Huntress could get another Huntsman into a lot trouble just for accompanying them on a mission. However, one possible exception was in the event that an Academy student was selected to shadow an instructor. However, Haiiden had technically dropped out, so Vaughn considered the circumstances a very grey area.

"Yes, he has," Oobleck replied as he straightened himself while he walked. Vaughn smiled in response, but whatever made him smile was interrupted by what the Doctor said next.

"How do you feel about this reunion? Surely there is some bitterness with regard to his leaving, especially given the fact that your team must repeat your first year?" Oobleck asked, and the question made Vaughn frown slightly; he turned away to adjust his glasses again, but this time out of nervousness.

"I am just glad we have our Captain back. I know that his intentions were good, and to be honest sir, with Zed's carefree nature, my military-inspired follower mentality, and Cecilia's aggressiveness, I think, he is the best option to lead us," Vaughn answered hesitantly. He was glad to have his Captain back, but with the rather weak excuse that Haiiden gave, it left it hard for Vaughn to sympathize with him.

* * *

"But isn't that illegal?" Cecilia asked Glynda, her face showing disapproval as well as disbelief upon having hard what Oobleck and Haiiden had done over the summer. "I mean, why would the Professor risk his certification just to bring him along?"

Glynda didn't immediately turn to face Cecilia, as she was lost in thought as to how to arrange the dining hall. She experimented with different table arrangements, and used her magic to quickly change their positions. She would occasionally check her Scroll for the time as well as to peek at her list of duties. Once she realized how late it had already gotten, she concluded that the current arrangement would have to suffice, and she turned around to see that Cecilia was still there. She expressed surprise, as she had expected Cecilia to have departed by now, but then she remembered that they were talking about her leader.

"Maybe Professor Oobleck used the opportunity to talk some sense into him. He definitely needed it." Glynda said, and walked past Cecilia in a dismissively.

"But now we have to repeat another year because of him! He left us; why should he get to come back and why should he get to be leader again? If you ask me, he abrogated that position when he abandoned us!" Cecilia said to Goodwitch, but in a tone that made it sound like it she demanded an answer, which Glynda noted with exasperation, and turned again to face her. This time, she took a couple daunting steps towards Cecilia with a stern expression on her face, which made even the combative and confrontational Cecilia back down.

"Because at some point, you all worked as a team, and you all need to figure out how to do that again. Now, you are here to learn how to fight, to protect humanity, and to become Hunters! Now so figure it out, Miss Sceryei, as it's not within my job description to babysit you!" Glynda yelled, and Cecilia backed away in horror at Glynda's reaction; the harshness in her tirade had visibly upset Cecilia, and she tried to reply, but all that came out was a few broken phrases as Cecilia couldn't find anything coherent to say.

"Thank you for your help Cecilia. That will be all." Glynda finished before walking away; Cecilia's expression turned to anger again before she stomped her foot and cried out in bitterness and frustration.

* * *

Zed looked along the right side of the corridor, scanning each door as he tried to figure out where he was supposed to go; Zed wondered what this new classroom was, and who their new instructor would be.

" _Ossea. Who is that?_ " Zed thought as he tried to figure out what would be the best way of introducing himself. How to make the best first impression. If the teacher was male, should he act tough and witty? If it was a woman, should he be clever and flirty?

" _Ossea sounds like a woman's name, but it could also be a man's,_ " he let out a frustrated grunt as the confusion made him slightly nervous.

He stopped in front of the door to the new classroom, and took a moment to breathe. After fixing his hair he grinned, but it was a fake, as he still felt uncomfortable and uncertain. As he opened the door, it creaked loudly and opened enough for him to poke his head through. Just as he peered in, three knives pierced the door frame beside his head. Frozen in place by this sudden attack, he then looked around and couldn't help but notice that there was barely any light in the room. However, whatever light there was just enough to allow one to see the glimmer of the strings to which the knives were attached. And to whom the strings were attached. As Zed stepped in, he could see an arm being extended from the darkness of the room, which was only being lit by the small crack in the doorway.

"Turn the lights on, please," the figure asked him. At first Zed hesitated for a moment, and slowly reached for the light switch, while still keeping an eye on the arm. He flicked the switch to the 'on' position, and illuminated the room; he could then see an average-sized person standing there, wearing a bone-white trench coat. It seemed to be a bit too big for its wearer, since it hung down to this person's feet, and the sleeves extended almost enough to hide the hand. It was buttoned all the way to the top, so that the collar of the coat was also sticking up and covering the person's face to the nose. The figure had white hair that covered the rest of its face, and extended to the waist.

"Thank you," the figure said before recalling its knives back into the coat's sleeve. The strings seems to cut through the air and made a sound similar to a fishing rod when you reeled in a catch.

A soft chuckle was all that Zed was able to express while looking at the new Professor, and the visage only added more to his discomfort.

" _This is even worse, now I really can't tell if it's a man or woman!_ " Zed thought to himself as he scratched the back of his head, and then fixed his hair by messing it up again. He thought the voice would help, but it was a neutral tone; not too feminine, nor too masculine.

"Howdy," Zed finally said to Ossea and almost froze again in embarrassment that this was all he was able to say. Ossea looked up at him and Zed was not able to tell what facial expression Ossea had, and its staring made him swallow nervously.

"Grab the broom. Help sweep up." Ossea said as it returned to its own duties. Zed looked around and closed the door behind him, only realizing after a few moments that the broom was next to the door. After Zed had regained his composure was he able to look around the room, only to see that it was in complete disarray. He thought that perhaps the school just forgot about the dorms and classrooms that were not in use, which seemed strange to him, since the school was always so clean; to see this made Zed feel slightly disgusted. Disgusted at all the dirt and the thought that he would have to soil his outfit to clean it.

" _I hope everyone else is having a better time than I am,_ " Zed thought.

A few hours later, team HAVC had already returned to their dorm and were awaiting the results of this year's teams. Zed had fallen asleep at his desk while Vaughn attempted to discuss strategies with Cecilia, but she paid her brother no mind as she sat silently and stared into the distance. Haiiden was in the corner, on his knees, lost in silent contemplation. When the team had returned to the dorm, Cecilia exploded into rage again as she saw Haiiden, but had enough restraint to keep herself from attacking him. Then, out of curiosity, he looked up at Cecilia, and to see her with a scowl upon her face made him feel upset. He knew he had to fix this somehow, but didn't know how, so he decided to slowly approach her with just a whiff of hesitation on his face.

"You alright?" Haiiden asked her softly, as he did not want to set her off again. However, Cecilia just shook her head, her mouth covered by her hands that she was slowly wringing together.

"I am fine, thank you, sir," she replied quietly, as though she was barely maintaining her composure.

"You sure? You don't appear to be 'fine'." Haiiden asked and cringed as he expected the worst, but genuinely wanted to redeem himself in the eyes of his entire team, especially Cecilia.

"I said I'm fine!" Cecilia yelled out but did not look up at him. Haiiden flinched at the explosive response and nodded as he slowly backed away to give her space, but then a knock on the door startled everyone. Zed almost fell out of his seat as he was suddenly awoken, and it even made Cecilia look up as the door opened; Goodwitch stepped through and stood quietly.

"You have a innate sense of timing, Glynda: you always come in here when it's most dramatic." Zed joked with an almost cheesy grin. Apparently, he hadn't really been asleep, and instead had listened to the exchange between Haiiden and Cecilia. Glynda returned Zed's attempt at a joke with a glare, as she didn't find it funny, nor was she amused at the use of her first name. However, today she was especially exhausted and not in the mood to deal out some magic to punish Zed for his bold attitude; instead she waved for the team to follow.

HAVC, along with Glynda, made their way to the school's presentation area. Where Glynda's class would ordinarily take place, but also where the teams were to be announced at the beginning of the school year. There were only a few teams left behind, and all waited for Ozpin to personally greet them and to send them off. Ozpin continued. "Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces.

"From this day forward you will work together as Team CaRDinaL, led by Cardin Winchester." He paused as the faces on the screens above his head changed from the four mens' to show two men and two women. "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward, the four of you will work together as Team JuNiPeR, led by Jaune Arc." He tilted his face toward a blonde man in classic armor, obviously the leader of Team Juniper and said, "Congratulations, young man." A long-haired redhead wearing gold and scarlet armor and a golden headdress slapped him on the back so hard that he toppled over. The audience laughed at this, and Haiiden couldn't help but suppress a chuckle.

The faces on the screen changed once again, this time to four women, including the petite girl with the black and red hair and the long-haired blonde, both of whom he had seen on the airship. "And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose." The blonde cried out and embraced the petite girl happily, nearly knocking her over. Ozpin finished with the statement, "It looks like things are shaping up to be… an interesting year."

Glynda motioned for Team HAVC to step forward, which they reluctantly did. Ozpin spoke again. "This is team HAVC, one of our senior teams and a well-rounded group of warriors," Ozpin announced; Zed was the only one who smiled at that comment, while the rest of the team stood at attention and kept their hands behind their backs. Haiiden looked at the new teams, and noticed that one of the larger males had a grin that was eerily like Zed's. However, this one wasn't filled with verve like Zed's was, but rather he seemed more cocky and full of himself.

"Their leader, Haiiden, will be escorting you to your dorms," Ozpin continued before turning his attention back to HAVC.

"I want you take Team CRDL and Team JNPR to their dorms. Show them a bit of Beacon hospitality," Ozpin requested and he motioned to two of the teams, who waited patiently for him. "Team CFVY will show the remaining teams off."

"Yes, Headmaster," Haiiden replied before turning to lead the two new teams assigned to the school's West wing. They quickly picked up their bags and followed behind Haiiden and his team, but the journey was quiet and felt awkward. His Scroll buzzed, and Haiiden saw that Glynda had given him a diagram of all the rooms that were available and the ones that were assigned to the new teams. Once they had made it to the first stop, Haiiiden turned to face the first team.

"Okay, so... you what is your name and team name," Haiiden asked, pointing to a large male who looked at him with a quirked brow.

The larger student, still grinning, stepped forward, the one who had a grin that was too cocky for Haiiden's liking.

"Cardin Winchester, Team CRDL. Remember it," Cardin replied. Taken aback, Haiiden was left speechless but next to him, Zed scoffed loudly and shook his head.

"Well, we are team HAVC, as you already know. We are one of the senior teams at Beacon, so if you need any help, don't be afraid to come to us," Haiiden replied. Although Cardin did respond with a chuckle before picking his bags up, he walked into his dorm, but not without body checking Haiiden as he walked past.

"We won't be needing any of your 'help'," Cardin replied, and the rest of the team snickered as they followed behind him. Haiiden looked to the next team and noticed one of their members, the female with red hair who had earlier knocked Jaune Arc to the ground; she was glaring at Team CRDL, and was clearly enraged at their blatant disrespect.

"Well, don't they seem like a bunch of upstanding gentlemen," Haiiden remarked and then smiled confidently at the second team. Likewise, he lead them to their new home and likewise, he turned and asked the same question. "Name and team name?"

One of the students hesitantly stepped forward, a blonde male who wore a black hoodie with pieces of armor covering his chest and shoulders.

"Ummm, Jaune Arc, and this is Team JNPR," Jaune replied and in return, Haiiden stretched out his hand in greeting.

"It's nice to meet you, Jaune," Haiiden said with a smile which calmed Jaune down, somewhat.

"Welcome to your new home. Like I told team CRDL, if you ever need any help, don't be afraid to ask." HAVC smiled at them softly but one of their other teammates, a girl with orange hair was a bit more enthusiastic.

"Yeah, I don't think we need any help, thanks though," She pointed out happily as if she felt excited to be accepted into the school.

"I bet, otherwise you wouldn't be here. I just say it as a formality but if there comes a time when you do need help, we are here," Haiiden replied. "And the rest of you?"

Then the quieter and almost expressionless one of the group spoke. His style of clothing was different that the others, as it seemed more Eastern, and he wore a long green tunic. "Ren."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ren," Vaughn answered.

"Nora!" the cheery, orange haired girl said as she jumped with excitement.

Finally, the redhead who tried her best to contain her laughter after having witnessed Nora's outburst. "Pyrrha."

Pyrrha. Cecilia's and Vaughn's faces lit up, and they looked back at each other with disbelief; they hoped that what they just heard wasn't just their imagination. Zed just gave his usual devilish smile while Haiiden straightened up and breathed in deeply. "Pyrrha? Pyrrha Nikos?"

Her facial expression changed when she realized that she had been recognized. It changed from surprise, and then to a frown as if she wished to hide who she was. Team HAVC took that as a sign that Haiiden was correct, and the twins just stared in disbelief.

"Damn!" Zed said, and chuckled. That was all he managed to get out before he whistled in amazement, while Haiiden burst out laughing, and tried to get back into a more professional mindset.

"Then you definitely won't be needing our help, then," Haiiden replied. "I hope you don't mind me saying, Ms. Nikos..."

"Pyrrha is just fine," she replied warmly.

"Pyrrha. I hope you don't mind me saying, that I look forward to our time in the sparring hall together," Haiiden said with a grin.

"Likewise, Haiiden," Pyrrha replied before she bowed.

Haiiden stepped out of the way, giving them clear access to their dorm and he watched as one by one, they entered their dorm. However, his gaze was especially fixed on Pyrrha as she entered, and the door closed behind her.

"What is she doing here?" Cecilia asked, amazed that someone so famous in Mistral would come all the way across the world just to attend Beacon.

"Does it matter? I think she's a great addition," Zed responded, to which Vaughn nodded in agreement. "Imagine how she will represent us in the Vytal Tournament."

Haiiden continued to walk silently as he grinned at the thought of one day fighting Pyrrha.

" _Pyrrha Nikos,"_ Haiiden thought to himself. " _I do hope we get to fight one day. I will absolutely beat you."_


	4. Vol 1: Chapter 4

( **Eleven days after Chapter Three** )

The room was calming, and had a nice, warm atmosphere to it. The windows were kept clean and red drapes hung neatly over them. There were shelves filled with books, but some were thrown around the place, with some lying open as if they were hastily read and then discarded so the reader could quickly move on to the next title. A few books lay face down, still open on the armrest of a chair facing the fireplace, which seemed to emit a much warmer glow and seemed to be brighter, since it had been started by magic. Beside the vacant chair was another one similar in construction, but this one had an occupant. From behind, all you could see was a hand that played with a fireball, and the person watched as it bounced from finger to finger; it then transformed into a long coil that weaved betwixt her fingers. The calmness in the room was disturbed by a knock on the door, and the interloper hesitantly peered inside before he stepped inside, and the fire illuminated his face.

"You wanted to see me, Miss Fall? What is it? I'm very busy," Roman Torchwick said, but then there was a pause as the arm, which was covered by a sleeve, began to glow red. The coil that the person played with turned back into a fireball and was cast back into the fireplace.

"I can see that you're still upset," Roman remarked as he shifted his position, but knew he couldn't back away. The desire to retreat was mostly out of fear of what would happen if he showed weakness; in her chair, Cinder shook her head before she put a fist to her temple.

"Why, Roman, would I be upset?" she asked him in a voice that seemed to soothe him and lull him into a false sense of security. Just when Roman opened his mouth to speak, she raised her hand with a finger in the air as if she had just discovered something.

"Could it be, Roman, that when you were supposed to do something as simple as rob an all-night Dust shop, you were instead held up by a mere child?" She continued while put her hand down on the armrest, and pushed herself up from its confines, only to turn and face Roman with an air of elegance. The Dust infused into her clothes illuminated brightly, and made an intricate pattern on her dress, which made her seem like she was on fire. However, despite the appearance of her clothing, she still wore a soft expression that insincerely conveyed her false curiosity. Roman tried to open his mouth to respond, but was again interrupted by Cinder.

"And then you come in here asking me 'What is it?' as if I owe YOU an explanation?" Cinder's eyes began to glow firey red as she spoke, and it appeared as if flames were spewing from of them. "And now you're telling me 'I'm busy', as if I need to work around YOUR schedule?" She slowly stepped towards Roman, and her Aura visibly manifested, which made her look as if she were engulfed in flames.

This visage made Roman swallow nervously, as he knew what this meant, and he pondered whether or not he should back away after all. At the most, all he was able to do was simply shift in position as she continued to approach him. As she got closer, Roman could feel the heat that emanated from her, even though she wasn't really on fire. As she stopped just inches from his face, Cinder looked up into Roman's eyes, and stared at him with an intensity that burned as much as her fiery advent would imply. Roman tried his best to look away, and his breath began to quicken.

"I am sorry, Miss! Won't happen again!" Roman blurted suddenly, but Cinder ignored the apology and she held her gaze; Roman swore that it felt as though she were staring into his soul. Then, out of nowhere, she giggled to herself, the fire of her Aura dissipated and her eyes returned to normal.

"Oh Roman," she said to him as she stroked his cheek softly with the back of her hand, which made him flinch as she kept her eyes narrowed at him.

"You need to understand that I put complete trust in you; then to see you fail me, and then have you show such disrespect," she trailed off with a voice that soothed Roman, but he knew not to trust it anymore. As she backed away, she wagged her finger at him and winked, while her facial expression turned back to a more passive and calm state; her alluring smile appeared again.

"Ummm, we will work harder from now on, but we will still need some time." He said as he regained his own cockiness and charm. Cinder merely turned around and rolled her eyes at him before shaking her head in response.

"Good to hear; next time we see each other, I'd better see some results," she walked back to her chair and stared into the flames as she was about to sit down, while Roman let out a silent sigh of relief, glad that he was able to avoid her wrath, and checked his clothes to make sure that she hadn't set him on fire. Everything seemed to be fine, until he realized that something smelled like it was burning.

"It isn't me," he muttered to himself and Cinder glanced back with a raised eyebrow. Slightly annoyed, she was curious as to what he had said; just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, she too caught the scent. Her eyes narrowed and her hands tightened into fists as she looked at the source of the scent that originated behind Roman.

"Out. Now," she demanded, as her eyes trained on whatever was behind Roman. When he noticed that her gaze was not on him, he looked behind himself and narrowed his eyes at the door, only to see that it was wide open, and a figure stood in the shadows. Roman did not want to upset Cinder by attempting to disobey her, but knew she was already upset, and whomever was in the doorway was liable to send her into an uncontrollable rage. Just as he left, the figure stepped into the room, and the firelight revealed who it was.

His light brown hair was combed back, but seemed to be a bit greasy from the overuse of pomade. His grey shirt and pants were to be more than a bit dirty, with patches of ash and soot smeared all around them. However, the most obvious details were the burn marks and holes all over his outfit, and the sick grin on his face. His curious green eyes scanned the room, and he lit on every little detail before he fixed his gaze on Cinder.

"Love what you've done with the place," his grin grew wider as he approached the vacant chair next to her and sat down.

"What do you want, Ash?" She asked as she glared at him and placed a hand on her chair; she gripped it tightly. He only responded with a smirk, and leaned his head to the side while he kept it propped up with a hand against his cheek.

"I'm not one of your underlings, Cinder. Besides, I thought you'd be happy to see me," he said in a tone that was meant to mock her, all the while expressing a false look of sadness. Her eyes flared, and her Aura began to burn again as she stalked forward, towering over him.

"I was told to kill you if I ever saw you again!" Cinder yelled out.

"Awww… tch, tch," replied Ash, and suddenly began to laugh at her, which caused her to flinch as her expression changed to confusion, then to frustration as he continued to deride her with his laughter.

"Someone would NOT be happy if you did that, Cinder," his grin grew wider as he waggled a finger in the same manner she had done to Roman. It was then that Cinder realized that he had borne witness to the entire exchange between them. "Who do you think asked me to come back?"

Taken aback by what he had said, the surprise made her lose concentration; the fire in her eyes and her Aura vanished. As she regained control and clarity, she began to think of any possible rationalization that would allow for his return.

"Why? Why bring you back?" She demanded, and Ash just shrugged as he looked to the side while he scanned the room again, but this time mostly out of boredom.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm smart? Charming? I get the job done?" he answered with a bit of smugness in his voice.

"Get the job done? You did the complete opposite of your 'job', Ash!" she interjected and began to grit her teeth as she remembered why she was ordered to kill him in the first place.

"You're still upset about that?" Ash asked with a sigh as he tried to feign a look of regret, but in the end couldn't keep it up and returned to his grin.

"Years of planning wasted, Ash! We had to recalculate everything," she said as she rubbed her forehead and paced back and forth across the room.

"Oh come on, it shouldn't matter," Ash said.

"You were supposed to bring back Snyegh alive!" Cinder retorted and stepped up to his seat before she placed a hand on his armrest and leaned towards him.

"Oh come on, you didn't think she'd actually join, did you?" Ash scoffed at the thought and shook his head while looking down to avoid Cinder's face. "She was too altruistic. She would never have joined us."

"But he didn't want her _dead,_ " Cinder said as she backed away and still keeping her eyes narrowed at him.

"Either you are with us, or against us. Same with her Huntress friend. I simply killed two birds with one stone," Ash said as he apparently began to trail off again, while Cinder sat back down and rubbed her temples. "The Master knows that I understand that 'we', the Faunus, humanity, we are born into a losing struggle, Cinder."

"You're an idiot, Ash. You understand nothing," she said with a scoff as she diverted her attention back to the fireplace.

"Like I said, I am not one of your underlings, I don't need your approval, neither do I want it," Ash retorted with a slight chuckle as Cinder continued to stare into the fire just as she had before; she was disturbed by Roman, even before Ash's intrusion. After a while, she noticed how quiet it had become, not that it was a bad thing, but from what she knew about Ash, she knew that he was never this quiet.

"Hmmm, the fire." She turned to see where this had come from to see that Ash had also begun to stare into the flames.

"The fiery gypsies." He got up out of his seat and knelt down next to the flames while he rubbed his hands. This made Cinder curious now, and she decided to watch to see what he would do next. However, a bit of her did feel uncomfortable when she noticed the sudden change in Ash's demeanor.

"Dancing with the flames." He reached a hand into the fire and watched as the fire engulfed his hand. It burned the cuff of his sleeve and the flame seemed to work its way up along his arm, while strangely it left his skin unharmed. He then pulled his hand back from the fireplace and the flames on his arm went out; she noticed that the fresh wood she placed in the hearth had turned to ash immediately after the fire left them. "Fire… in our hearts." The flames in the hearth died out completely.

Cinder's eyes widened in wonder as she continued to watch Ash; he controlled a ball of fire in his hand and bounced it from finger to finger. She watched as it coiled along his arm like it did when she had played with it, and he let it dance along his digits, but upon closer inspection, it seemed as if it took the form of a person; as she watched, it began to dance.

"And like most flames that have lingered too long. They will turn into nothing but embers and die." Just as Ash finished his poetry, he closed his hand into a fist and the fire died with a loud screech, until there was nothing but a few pops and sparks left, and then the room went dark.

* * *

"No way! You guys fought a Nevermore?" Zed asked as he leaned forward in his seat at the dining hall and grinned as he listened to Jaune's story. It was the first time since the start of the year that HAVC and JNPR had actually gotten together to talk. Nora ate loudly next to Ren, who just ate silently while he listened in on the discussion between Haiiden, Zed, Jaune, and Pyrrha.

"Yeah, it was amazing. He and Ruby came up with a clever plan, and it worked out perfectly," Pyrrha finished her recounting of Team JNPR's encounter with a giant Grimm scorpion, a Deathstalker, and Team RWBY's battle with an enormous Grimm bird of prey, the Nevermore, She put a hand on Jaune's shoulder; he responded with a shy smile and shrugged.

"Yeah well. It wasn't that hard, you know, there's a reason why we're all here," Jaune added, while Zed continued to nod and was barely able to sit still in his seat due to his excitement.

"That sounds awesome! We fought an Attercoppe with team CFVY when we first got here!" Zed said, and turned towards Haiiden for a high five; for a moment, Haiiden looked back silently before he hesitantly gave Zed his desired high five. Jaune's expression changed to one that showed nervousness, which was only compounded when he scratched the back of his neck.

"A- Attercoppe?" Jaune asked nervously but Zed did not seem to notice his disposition.

"Yeah, giant spider or something like that. Not a very clever name though, you'd think they'd pick something scarier," Zed seemed to pause, as if he started to think of a name while Jaune seemed to reel back in his seat.

"No thanks. Spiders are already scary enough." Everyone noticed his fear, but it was only natural, so it was ignored.

"Anyways. Ruby? Who is that?" Haiiden asked. He had only met a two of the new teams this year, but none of the students were named Ruby.

"She's leading team RWBY right now. You haven't met yet?" Pyrrha asked quizzically and quirked a brow at him. "I'd assume that you would have, since you were the ones who gave us a tour and welcomed us in."

Due to their busy schedule, Haiiden and his team hadn't been able to scout out all the teams or meet with everyone. Haiiden would like to meet this "Team RWBY", especially since he'd heard some good things, but unfortunately he had been unable to.

"Well. We handled a bit of that while CFVY also handled any other teams and students. So maybe they got around to team RWBY, and who knows, maybe we will meet when the classes are switched around," Haiiden said with a shrug.

"Strange. Why would they do that?" Ren asked as he joined in the conversation, while Nora peered at the group with a half-eaten chicken wing that stuck out of her mouth.

"Well, Ozpin told me that he would like the students to work together more often. Get them to meet each other and bond until the school is pretty much like family. Although he wouldn't really word it that way," Haiiden elaborated and took a sip out of his cup.

"You seem to know a lot of what Ozpin seems to be thinking," Ren pointed out.

"Yeah, you two seem close, I have also noticed you walking with him and your talks are pretty casual," Pyrrha also pointed out and Haiiden began to feel a bit uncomfortable, as JNPR seemed to be pressing him for an answer.

"Oh that's easy, Ozpin is his Godfather," Zed answered, who then also took a sip out of his own drink. JNPR's eyes widened with surprise, and Cecilia spit out her drink onto Nora, after which she covered her mouth and apologized in horror. Vaughn looked up at him with equal surprise, with his eyes darting back between Zed and Haiiden. Haiiden forced a smile and gritted his teeth; he shook his head, but did not look up at anyone.

"Thank you, Zed! They did NOT need to know that!" With that confirmation, Team JNPR's mouths dropped open and looked back at one another, then back to Haiiden. Vaughn looked back to his sister, who was now visibly angry.

"Maybe 'we' did, sir," she said as she pounded her fist on the table.

"Not right now, Cecilia. Please?" Haiiden begged as he started to rub his eyes as he sensed that there would be another argument tonight.

"No, I want an answer: why didn't you think that we needed to know this?" she continued, and Team JNPR now sat awkwardly as they watched the two bicker, with Jaune scratching his head and Pyrrha looking away as she pursed her lips. Ren just looked down to avoid eye contact while Nora was the only one who watched with excitement.

"I didn't want people to know, because they don't need to. I don't want people to think that I am here because of favoritism," Haiiden answered, and turned to see how she would react. At first she tried to find the right words to say and her expression changed from calm to anger, and back again repeatedly before she just dropped the subject and resumed her meal. She chewed rather aggressively, however.

"Well, in the next class, we will see if you earned your right to be here then," Vaughn said with a smile, feeling confident that favoritism wasn't the explanation in this case.

"That's right, we will be with Ms. Goodwitch next class to do some sparring," Ren said after looking up when the atmosphere had calmed down a bit. Everyone nodded in agreement, and Haiiden sat staring at Pyrrha, noticed after a while, and expressed discomfort.

"Yes, Haiiden?" she asked him as he kept staring at her.

He chuckled nervously. "It's just that you have a bit of a reputation. Celebrity status, if you will," he said as he took another sip from his drink again, setting the cup down on the table after he was done. "You could have had it easy if you had just stayed at Haven; why would you come here?"

Pyrrha smiled, but at first it wavered as she thought of an appropriate answer, then the smile became more confident when she was done thinking.

"I think you just answered your own question," Pyrrha answered and Haiiden continued to stare, slightly confused at her answer. "I don't want my previous fame to affect my grades or my relationships with the students and the faculty. That is why I am here: to some extent I get a fresh start and I am just like everyone else. I get to once more test myself."

Haiiden smiled back, this was a better answer than he had originally hoped for and he was almost left speechless.

"Well. I hope that we can have a good sparring match. I'd also like to test myself and try my hand against you." Grinning at her, and the right corner of his mouth rose into a smirk; she responded with a smile similar to his. Haiiden then looked to Jaune, who noticed and was looking back between him and Pyrrha, but a bit unsure at the answer than Pyrrha was.

"Ummm, my great-great grandfather was pretty famous, and I kind of want to be like him," he said sheepishly, and was nervous as to the manner in which Haiiden was looking at him. Which was understandable, since Haiiden was staring at him intensely as if he was looking over every little detail in Jaune's face, as well as at the pieces of armor that he wore. Noticing something familiar about it, he tilted his head back and forth as he tried to figure where he had seen it before.

When the subject was about to change, it finally hit him.

"Crocea Mors," Haiiden said to himself, everyone turned to face him, almost confused for a second, with Jaune the only one who knew what he had just said.

"You are an Arc, huh?" Zed and Cecilia looking back at each other at Haiiden's question, and wondered what the significance of that was. Jaune replied again with a sheepish smile and a scratch to the back of the head.

"No way! That is a good name, Jaune," he sighed for a second and smiled to himself before shaking his head. Glad at the prospect of there being two famous people in the school.

"I have never heard of it, sir," Vaughn pointed out with Cecilia looking at Jaune curiously. Haiiden hung his head to the left and turned to face him as he stared at the two.

"A lot of good names have been forgotten throughout the years. Arc is one of those names that is known among the right people, and can be found in many of the older books." The bell then struck, signaling the end of the lunch period, and everyone stood up to leave. The group split up to run some final errands before heading towards their next class.

* * *

Team HAVC was walking side by side, with Haiiden and Zed telling random stories of them growing up together, with Vaughn joining in to ask questions. While Cecilia was walking by herself and silently as if she was lost in thought. The fun was then ruined when Zed's expression changed from his usual grin to a dark frown. Haiiden looked up with Vaughn to see team CRDL surrounding and cornering Velvet against a row of lockers in the corridors. Zed tightened his fists and gritted his teeth and was growling to himself. He rushed over to the group, and pushed Sky Lark and Cardin Winchester out of the way.

"Back off, Cardin!" he yelled at him as he held him by the collar of his breastplate, and shoved him away and then pushed Sky back into him. Team CRDL grinned when they saw Zed and thought that he was alone, but then their eyes narrowed, and the grins disappeared as the rest of HAVC came in to back Zed up.

"What's it to you? Huh? We're just having a bit of fun," Cardin replied and was walking up to Zed, towering over him and yet it seemed as if Zed was still the one looking down on him.

"Fun, huh? Singling out and bullying your fellow students is fun?" Zed asked in a voice that expressed how ridiculous the thought was. Cecilia was backing up Zed, gripping the hilt of her claymore while Haiiden also readied his own blade.

Upon noticing, Cardin laughed and pushed Velvet down before walking away, shaking his head in a way that said that he wouldn't deal with them. Zed's eyes flared up in anger and took a step to pursue them, but a hand from Haiiden on his shoulder stopped him and they moved to help Velvet up.

"You okay?" Zed asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," Velvet replied in her Northern accent, a little bit upset. Zed saw her distress and the fox ears that he kept hidden popped out of his head with a swish, making Velvet giggle to herself upon seeing them. For her part, she twirled one of her bunny ears between her fingers, nervously.

"Why are you out here by yourself?" Cecilia demanded. Zed turned around and shook his head at her, holding his hand out and waving it with a downward motion, as if telling her to calm down.

"Not now, Cecilia."

"We got separated; we got different classes, so sometimes I am by myself," she replied as she lowered her head and her eyes switching between Cecilia and looking down at the floor.

"That doesn't sound right," Haiiden said, lowering his head to meet Velvet's eyes and then straightened up again.

"The classes are set up so that teams go together. Did you mention this to Ozpin?"

"I didn't want to bother anyone, even the rest of the team thought it was weird but we thought it would be alright."

"Well, it isn't," Haiiden told her sternly, and looked back to his own team.

"You got paired with your team for a reason, you ought to have each other's backs," Team HAVC nodded in agreement, even Cecilia, but her nod was a little more hesitant.

"When you have the time, go talk to Ozpin. Okay?" Zed suggested, and wanted to make it come out as a demand, but he didn't want to make her feel worse. She replied with a nod and Zed put an arm around her as Team HAVC began to escort her to her next class.

* * *

Glynda's class was different than the other ones. Instead of a traditional classroom with chairs and seats, it was a stage which had an empty area for spectators to watch the sparring matches. Team HAVC tried to sneak in since they were a little late for the class, after having helped Velvet to her next lecture, where the rest of her team was in attendance. They quietly made their way through the crowd and stopped next to team JNPR.

"Hey again," Vaughn said as they stopped next to JNPR and Jaune looked to the side very quickly to see who it was that had approached. The rest of Team JNPR watched the stage as Glynda made her announcements.

"Nice of you to join us, Team HAVC," Glynda said wryly, with a clearly perturbed look upon her face. Some of the class turned to face them, as well as Cardin, who was laughing to himself and shook his head before turning back to Glynda.

"Well, since you've interrupted my lecture and gotten everyone's attention, I suppose you will volunteer for the first match," Glynda said as she looked down at her Scroll and input something into it before looking up.

"The first sparring match will be between Mr. Haiiden and Mr. Arc."

Haiiden looked over to Jaune with a smile and motioned for him to follow. Jaune couldn't help but stand frozen in fear for a moment, hesitant to move, but after some coaxing from JNPR and Zed, he walked with Haiiden onto the stage. Jaune stopped at the top of the stairs on the stage and Haiiden continued to walk to the other end.

"You don't expect this to be fair do you, Professor Goodwitch?" Haiiden announced with a smile.

"What are you on about now?" Glynda asked and rolled her eyes.

"I mean he's new to the school; I know nothing about him, and for all I know he could destroy me!" said Haiiden as he held up two hands to his chest to signal himself with the classroom laughing at his remark. Mostly because of the humor, but also because some of the other senior students had seen Haiiden fight before, and laughed at the thought of him losing.

"You were late to my class, so you will fight first. Ready your weapons," Glynda concluded and shook her head.

Haiiden quickly drew his sword, the blade cutting through the air with a swish as he twirled it in his hand and stood at the ready with his clawed gauntlet to his chest, the blade pointed downward. He stood and watched as Jaune awkwardly tried to pull his sword from his sheath and spun around in place, futilely. He desperately tried to activate his sheath to turn it into a shield and the classroom laughed at the display.

"You nervous?" he asked Jaune while his smile wavered slightly.

"I'm- I'm fine!" Jaune replied with an air of false confidence, and finally pulled out his shield and stood triumphantly.

"Just go easy on me, Jaune." Haiiden fixed his posture to be at the ready and waited for Jaune to charge in and attack first. Jaune swallowed and replied with a sheepish smile, awkwardly holding his sword and shield as if it was his first time holding it, or at least as if he was someone inexperienced in wielding it, but Haiiden brushed it off as stage fright. After a few moments of nothing happening on stage, the crowd started to murmur to each other, while others from Team CRDL began to laugh.

"Come on Jaune! Come at me!" Haiiden yelled, his smile was gone at this point and was embarrassed now as he thought he was making a fool of himself but unsure if he should attack first. Jaune just nodded, and shifted in position, but still was not moving. Haiiden finally attacked out of frustration and impatience, and went in for the kill, raising his sword and swinging downwards onto Jaune. The blonde man raised his shield to block, which made Haiiden reel his arm back from the change in energy, using it to spin around to his right and come up on to Jaune's side. Going in for a low strike, he brought his sword up and collided with Jaune's shield again. This time, the force knocked Jaune down and Haiiden raised his blade to his throat which signaled a loss for the younger student.

"Again," Glynda demanded as she input something into her Scroll again. Haiiden shook his head.

" _What is going on? I was kidding when I said to go easy,_ " he thought to himself and a quick look to the crowd revealed that the audience was thinking the same thing. Holding his usual pose, Haiiden stared at Jaune and was waiting for him to come and attack. Jaune did, but his windup was too elaborate and slow, allowing Haiiden to guess where the strike would land, and deflected the attack with his gauntlet, then went in for a kick to Jaune's abdomen. Jaune managed to block it with his shield, but it still forced him back and made him lose balance; Jaune fell down the stairs on the other side of the stage, disqualifying him and giving Haiiden an "out of bounds" victory..

"Winner!" Exclaimed Glynda, and pointed towards Haiiden, the class started to clap weakly, but he was instead looking around in disbelief.

" _It doesn't feel like a win,_ " he thought and shook his head to clear his mind before he ran to help Jaune, who was already being helped up by Pyrrha. Grabbing him by the arm and helping to lift him up, Haiiden leaned in to whisper.

"I was kidding when I said to 'go easy on me', Jaune," Jaune replied with a chuckle and a shrug but Haiiden didn't think it was funny.

"I will be abusing HAVC tonight. So the next pairing will be Mr. Sceryei from Team HAVC, and Mr. Lark from Team CRDL." The two walked up to the stage on opposite ends with Vaughn holding his rifle and taking a moment to load a magazine with one that glowed white and read "Crowd Control". As the magazine was loaded, the whole rifle came to life, which began to glow white in some parts and the glow ran down the barrel of the gun like veins down a limb in the human body. However Sky's introduction was a lot flashier in nature as he stepped up the stairs with his halberd on his shoulders and his arms draped over it. As he pulled it off, he started to twirl it in the air, and spinning as he slowly stepped forward, then stopped in place with his halberd at the ready. The room was then filled with "Oooohs" and clapping with Sky looking at Vaughn with a smirk, and a raised brow, but Vaughn only stared at him.

"You may begin," Glynda announced as she signaled to start of the duel, and Sky immediately rushed in towards Vaughn as he readied his rifle to aim up at his opponent. He got in a few shots that connected, but only with Sky's weapon, as he deflected the shots. Sky swung the head of the halberd for Vaughn's neck, which Vaughn dodged by leaning back and sliding forward on his knees. Then, he jumped back on to his feet and rolled forward to dodge the next attack that missed him by inches, and fell down on his back. Sky thought at that moment that this would be the perfect opportunity to finish the match early, until he saw Vaughn's rifle was being aimed up at him, which stopped him in his tracks as a barrage of non-lethal fire peppered Sky. He tried his best to deflect them, until he realized that he couldn't block them all, he dodged out of the way, allowing Vaughn to re-adjust his aim towards where Sky would land next. Vaughn started to fire again but Sky still managed to block the shots, only barely, then he fell on to one knee, trying to keep the shots from connecting with his body.

The rifle clicked as the Dust rounds in the magazine ran dry, and Vaughn rolled back on to his feet to see that Sky was already lunging towards him. Vaughn lowered his right arm and swung it upward, deflecting Sky's attack with the blade hidden under his sleeve and using his shoulder to ram into him. Sky reeled back to the other end of the stage and for a moment, the two just stared at each other. Vaughn didn't have the time to refill the Dust mag into his rifle, and Sky knew it, but something caught Sky off guard. Vaughn began to reach behind him and pulled out a black cloth; Team HAVC began to smile upon seeing this.

"Oh man, this is going to be good," Zed pointed out as he covered his mouth to hide his excitement.

Vaughn covered his eyes with the cloth and collapsed his rifle, then proceeded to hitch it on to his back with a magnet attached to his shirt so it didn't swing around too much.

"What is he doing?" Pyrrha asked upon seeing what Vaughn was up to, expressing her concern and confusion. Vaughn then reached behind him and pulled out a glass vial filled with Dust which was grey in color and swirling like a cloud inside it.

 _"He's fighting me blindfolded? This is too easy,"_ Sky thought to himself, then yelled and moved in for a finishing blow.

"There is no way he'll see this coming; I got this!" A loud "CLICK" was heard and Vaughn threw the vial down, shattering it on the stage, which filled with smoke. The first two rows of students backed away from the stage and covered their mouths as they were coughing. Glynda also quickly got down from the stage while holding a cloth over her face and was visibly irritated at this display.

The audience was filled with whispers which was silenced by sounds of footsteps on the stage. These, however, sounded frantic and almost desperate but then another loud "CLICK" was heard which echoed throughout the classroom. With some students covering their ears to muffle the sound. Team JNPR watched curiously with Ren and Pyrrha looking back to HAVC. Much to their surprise, HAVC was standing there with grins on their faces with Cecilia's smile being the widest and her eyes narrowed at the stage.

The silence was then broken by a scream, then a thud as Sky's halberd could be seen spinning in the air above the smoke before landing with a loud "CLANK". As the smoke cleared, everyone could see Sky on the floor of the stage, with his hands up in surrender and Vaughn's hidden blade pressed against his throat. Strangely, as Vaughn was looking down on Sky and even with his blindfold on, it seemed as though Vaughn was still looking him in the eyes. The crowd erupted with cheers and applause at this victory, even Glynda was hiding a smirk behind her cloth; she then lowered the cloth and cleared her throat.

"Next time, warn us when you're going do that, Vaughn."

Vaughn helped Sky to his feet, still making eye contact through the blindfold and walked off the left of the stage. Passing by Sky's halberd and kicked it in the air in his direction. Sky caught it easily, and stared at Vaughn as he descended from the stage. Team HAVC greeted and congratulated Vaughn as he returned, and they were quickly joined by JNPR.

"That was crazy! How did you do that?" Jaune asked with a smiling visage, but still in disbelief at what he had just seen, or rather what he did not see. Team CRDL could be heard arguing over the two teams' cheering.

"He had a blindfold on, and there was smoke! He was double blind and you still managed to lose?" Yelled Cardin and with Sky cowering before him. Vaughn then turned his attention to Jaune, smiling politely and tapped his finger on to his lips.

"My secret."


	5. Vol 1: Chapter 5

( **A couple of weeks after chapter 4)**

Coco and Velvet walked down the hallway, both carrying brown paper bags with handles made of twisted paper twine. Velvet giggled as she walked backwards to keep eye contact as she continued to chat with Coco. Coco smiled and looked at Velvet with her head lowered while looking at the other woman from the top of her sunglasses. She was still carrying her designer handbag in her free hand, while Velvet corrected herself so that she was now walking forward, next to Coco. They stepped up the short flight of stairs before she opened the door for Coco, and the pair entered into Beacon's library together, before walking past the other students who had come to study or to just to relax. The duo both approached two tables that had been pushed together and were occupied by the rest of Team CFVY and Team HAVC.

It was nearly dusk outside, the last slivers of sunlight just gleaming over the horizon before the sun disappeared for the night. It gave the library a nice orange glow, despite the lights being turned on. As HAVC and CFVY were reading, Zed was looked out the window. His head rested on his palm with his elbow on top of an open textbook. The tables were set up so that both teams were sitting each at their own table, and they had positioned themselves so that they could each face the opposite team, with Haiiden sitting at the head of team HAVC's table. Coco and Velvet, still giggling together, stopped right next to their table; this was strange coming from Coco, as she always seemed serious, or at least somewhat stoic. They set the paper bags down on to their team's table, and she proceeded to pull out two cardboard cup holders, each held four cups of coffee which was enough for each team, plus an oversized thermos for refills.

Velvet set a cup down for each team member with a warm smile, and as each took a cup, returned the gesture with a smile of their own.

" _She looks better with a smile on her face, instead of a constant frown,_ " Haiiden thought to himself as he looked up at her, and then back to his own textbook. Even though he didn't ask for one, Haiiden still received a cup from Velvet, and he looked up at her to flash a smile.

"Thank you, V," Haiiden said, removing his glove from his right hand and feeling the warm cup against his skin. It sent a shock through his body that woke him up a little.

" _Maybe I did need it after all,_ " Haiiden thought as she responded with a smile and turned back to Coco, who continued where she left off from her conversation.

"But come on, though; wouldn't that be fun?" Velvet asked Coco, while she lightly tapped her on the shoulder in a playful manner, but blushed when she realized what she had done. Then, she pulled back and kept her arms close in an attempt to make herself appear small. As a further sign of her nervousness, Velvet pulled her bunny ears down over her eyes to try and hide her face. Coco's smile grew broader at her shy teammate's attempt at gregariousness, followed by her signature shyness, then patted her hand on Velvet's shoulder. They both sat down, with Coco sitting next to Haiiden at the head of her team's table.

"That would be fun, I admit. We need to find some time for that," Coco replied, while everyone read from their own textbooks for their respective classes or just random books from around the library, for fun. It felt nice to just sit down and relax together; however, Cecilia was reading an older book from the library, not a textbook and a very ancient text, from the look of it.

"What are you reading up on, Cecilia?" Coco asked her but Cecilia didn't look up from her whatever she was reading.

"I am studying up on the Jaune Arc's family history, dating back to the Great War. They were amazing!" Cecilia replied with a smile of admiration which seemed to disappear and her facial expression changed to that of disappointment.

"Too bad the apple fell far from the tree," she said a little louder, and Haiiden turned when he heard the remark. He knew that she was talking about Jaune, but she was right.

"I don't get how a kid like that got in here," Fox added as he looked up from his book and leaned forward on his elbows, so as to not talk too loudly in the library. Nobody understood how he had gotten into Beacon; he clearly didn't know how to fight, or at least he didn't know how to fight well. The thought made Haiiden question Ozpin's reasons for accepting him, and he wondered if it could be that he was invited to Beacon because of his name. A name is an important thing, , Haiiden knew, and hopefully Jaune could come around in time to live up to it. The thought of names however, made Haiiden think back to his own, and the thought of it made him feel discouraged.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Jaune," Zed jumped into the conversation when his attention reverted back to the group. Apparently the sun had gone down and he had to turn his focus to something else.

"My biggest problem is why they would let thugs like Cardin into this Academy," His eyes narrowed as he thought to himself and cracked his knuckles angrily as he shook his head.

"Well, he can fight, and that's something, I guess," Cecilia responded in an attempt to try to explain without saying, that if she had to choose, she would easily choose Cardin over Jaune, especially since students were here to hone their skills and to fight for humanity, which would be hard to do if you didn't know how to fight in the first place.

"Punks like Cardin only come here for fame," Zed fumed, as if he was scolding a child while he looked at Cecilia out of the corner of his eye. He felt slightly insulted that Cecilia would try to defend Cardin, and decided that he would not give her the respect of actually turning his head to face her. Unlike with Haiiden, Cecilia actually respected Zed's opinion and as she noticed his displeasure, she nodded and looked away.

"We came here for humanity; we give up our own identities for its sake. Cardin is just some pushover; someone who hunts the weak and distrusts those who are different," he continued, but then looked over to Velvet and thought back to all the times Cardin had bullied her, which only made him more agitated. Yatsuhashi and Vaughn looked up at Zed and both of them wondered where this side of him came from.

"What's worse is that Team CRDL won't learn. Only way for them to learn a lesson is for their victims to stand up and fight back. We, those who are capable, can't do anything about it," Zed shook his head again, then he took his anger out on the book in front of him by slamming it closed and hid his face in his hands. After a few moments of silence, his face reappeared, this time with his signature grin upon his face, but it was not as wide as it usually was; he then turned back to Velvet again.

"Can I get your answers for Ossea's assignment?" he asked her.

Velvet sighed in response and was annoyed at his laziness. "No, Zed. You have to do your own homework."

"Please?" Zed pleaded, putting his hands together he tilted his head, cutely. He tried to make his eyes seem bigger, as if he were a puppy, begging.

"Zed, stop," Velvet demanded in her toughest voice and tried to look away, but was unable to as Zed then lowered the corners of his mouth to make a big, fake frown. As he leaned forward on the table, his fox ears popped out of his hair.

"Okay, fine," Velvet said as she finally gave in to Zed's puppy dog looks, and lent him a few pieces of the homework that she had been able to finish. Zed wiggled his ears at her and chuckled as he took the papers from her. Looking over the answers and copying them; he then decided to look at his own work after the answers were input, opening his textbook to find the relevant information after handing the papers back to Velvet.

"Thanks V," Zed said with a wink.

* * *

The next day, team HAVC and CFVY were sitting in Professor Ossea's class and were listening to a lecture on the previous Faunus/Human conflicts, as well as the ongoing one with the White Fang. It was almost impossible to understand Ossea at times, as the Professor only spoke in a muffled monotone voice, without any expression or emotion behind it. It almost made it seem as if it was reading its lectures from a script, which made them long and unbearable. It turned out that Ossea was brought into the academy to teach World Cultures, but the lectures seemed more like in-depth history lessons, mostly material that had been partially covered by Doctor Oobleck. It was also here to teach what it liked to call "diplomacy", since the first conflicts with the Faunus had convinced some that the Huntsmen's role should be expanded to peacekeeping missions.

"The 'Faunus Rights Revolution' started as way to get rights through force," Ossea said as it paced back in forth in front of the class with its hands behind its back. It was almost difficult to tell who or what the professor was looking at with the all the white hair that hung over its face. Some students were sitting and writing down notes, and some were asleep due to Ossea's boring lectures, but not Zed, who kept his gaze upon Ossea. "After the turning point of the war, they did receive some of their rights, but discrimination continued, and many were still being forced to live in Menagerie."

"Seven years after the conflict ended, the organization known as the 'White Fang' was born, and their goal was originally and ostensibly to secure their rights in a more peaceful manner, through protests," Ossea continued its lecture, and was still pacing in front of the class, its hair swaying to the right every time it turned around. Zed looked back to Haiiden at the mention of the White Fang and they both frowned at each other, then turned to Velvet who was sitting next to Zed along with her own team. She just shrugged at the mention and gave off a warm smile which made Zed's frown disappear, and was then replaced with a smile of his own.

"However, they turned violent five years ago, when their senior most leadership changed, and the official statement was that the constant discrimination and lack of positive action in response to their previously peaceful protests was the cause for this change in their tactics." The class continued to observe in silence, they all already knew this from the Doctor Oobleck, but maybe the reason why this history was being emphasized so much was because the conflict was still ongoing, as well as the pervasive ignorance of those who wanted to keep the Faunus down.

"What's the big idea? They're just animals," Cardin stated loudly and laughed with his teammates as along with a few other students in the class. The rest of the class either sat in silence or muttered to themselves in disagreement. Ossea looked up at Cardin, which didn't faze him in the slightest, since no one could tell the Professor's expression anyway.

"It is because of that attitude that many have died needlessly," Ossea retorted, to which Cardin only responded with a shrug and waved it off dismissively.

"As Hunters and Huntresses, you all will hold a position of respect," Ossea stated while scanning the classroom and looking at each individual student.

"You fight for humanity, and by that, not just humans but for the Faunus as well. You take no sides in any matter, so in a way, you give up all sense of individuality and any opinion for the good of the future." Its gaze then returned to Cardin, hoping to have made a change in his previous opinion, but instead Cardin just looked back with a wide grin.

"If you can't do that, then you should just leave. This is not the life for you," Ossea finished and made sure that the statement was directed at Cardin. The comment made Cardin's grin disappear and Ossea continued to stare him down, which made him shift uncomfortably in his seat, as the unwanted attention made him feel uneasy. The classroom was then disrupted by a beeping from Ossea's Scroll.

"Excuse me." It moved to see what the disturbance was about, and after a few moments of scanning through the message, it looked up at team HAVC, but specifically Haiiden.

"Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch would like your help with a matter, Haiiden."

Team HAVC looked up in surprise and then back at each other, they assumed it meant all of them so they all stood up, but Ossea stopped them.

"Not all of team HAVC, just Haiiden." Zed and Vaughn looked to each other with confusion, but Cecilia had an annoyed and aggressive expression on her face.

"Why just him?" she crossed her arms as she asked, and looked down at Ossea. Vaughn put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her, but she only pulled away.

"We are part of the team, so why ask for just him?" She asked again but this time raised her voice.

"I do not know Miss Sceryei, it would probably be best to ask him when he returns." Ossea responded, and its lack of people skills made it answer without tact or sugarcoating. She gritted her teeth and sat back down, looking back up to Haiiden with eyes that seemed to burn with rage. He knew what that meant: it meant another night of useless bickering, but he couldn't help it now and proceeded to walk out the class.

* * *

Haiiden entered the locker room of the school where students kept their extra equipment and armor. He saw Glynda and most of Team JNPR standing at the end of the room with worried expressions on their faces, but strangely, Jaune was not with them. He continued to hold a look of professionalism as he approached the group, and stood straight at attention.

"Team HAVC leader, Haiiden reporting." It seemed to come out of nowhere in Haiiden's mind, and he thought that perhaps Cecilia's and Vaughn's military mannerisms had rubbed off on him a little. Glynda quirked a brow at him.

"Where's Jaune?" Haiiden asked.

"Seems as though he's had a bit of a joyride in one of the lockers," Goodwitch replied and shook her head, almost embarrassed at the thought as she adjusted her glasses with her index finger. Haiiden chuckled to himself and looked at JNPR at the hopes that this was some kind of joke, but their faces said otherwise.

"Huh. Wow, someone actually used one of those things?" Haiden asked, and Glynda looked at him, unamused by his attempt at humor, while Pyrrha glared with a stern expression, as if to silently ask him to take things seriously. Glynda handed her Scroll to Haiiden, upon receiving it he realized that she was showing him a camera recording from the corner of the locker room and it showed that Cardin had stuffed Jaune into the locker and had launched it.

"How did no one notice this?" he asked Glynda and his eyes widened in surprise as this had happened on Glynda's watch, then slowly handed the Scroll back to her.

"I've already dealt with Cardin about launching the locker, but we didn't realize that he had forced Jaune inside until after we noticed he was missing." She looked down to input a few things into her Scroll again and after a few moments, Haiiden's personal Scroll pinged as it received data.

"I just sent you the coordinates of where the locker was deployed." After glancing at his Scroll, he looked back up to Glynda in disbelief after realizing why he was summoned.

"You called me to retrieve another student?" He looked back to team JNPR, exhaled in exasperation and almost stammered as he tried to find the right words.

"Don't get me wrong, I like the kid. It's just that- can't team JNPR go to retrieve him?"

"The locker was launched outside of the city, and all students, once they are officially accepted into the school, are now under our supervision, which means despite their ability to fight, they are unable to leave the city without another Hunter or senior student," She replied him with a cold stare and walked off to return to her other duties. It was his first "mission" of the school year, if you wanted to call it that. Haiiden exhaled, frustrated at this situation and he motioned for JNPR to follow. Haiiden called for a Bullhead in advance as they proceed to leave Beacon.

* * *

After about twenty minutes of flight, Haiiden and team JNPR landed right outside the city, and the pilot then apologized and explained that they were unable to fly any further without authorization from the headmaster. She said that they could land as close as they could to a safe zone, but they would have to trek the rest of the way; the VTOL would be available to retrieve them after they brought back their lost teammate.

Once they got off the Bullhead, they began to run through the forests beyond the walls of the city towards the coordinates, with Haiiden leading, weaving around trees with JNPR following, but Nora was just skipping along as she followed. Luckily, they were still within close proximity to the city, so there weren't as many Grimm to deal with, only the few stragglers that seemed to get too curious and strayed away from the larger herds. After dispatching several of them, they continued their way to the coordinates before arriving at their destination, with the locker finally in view amidst a clutch of trees.

The group was still cautious as they approached it, Haiiden's hand on the hilt of his blade as it rested in its sheath, and Pyrrha moved forward with her shield up. Ren was walking with his two pistols ready in hand, while Nora skipped towards the locker and jumped right on top of it, rocket hammer in hand. Her and Jaune's weight made it shift in position, but it didn't topple over; from inside the locker, whimpering could be heard as it was suddenly disturbed.

"Jaune! Jaune, are you alright?" asked Pyrrha as she frantically tried to find a way to open the unit, but the locking mechanism wouldn't open when she input her code.

"Each locker has its own individual code, this could be Cardin's locker; if so we would need his code to open it," Ren pointed out as he put away his pistols, folded his arms as he started to think. Pyrrha stood back, re-configuring her spear into a rifle, and prepared to shoot the lock, when Haiiden suddenly reached out and lowered it.

"You'd risk hitting Jaune with that!" he told her, then pulled out his sword, and held it close to his chest with his right hand pressing against the bottom of the hilt, and aimed.

"Jaune, move to the back-right corner of the locker please. My back-right, as though you were standing in front of the locker, looking at the door." After a few moments, he lunged forward, the blade penetrated the front of the locker and protruded out the left side. He pulled the blade back and with the lock on the door destroyed, the doors swung open and Jaune fell out with a loud grunt.

Pyrrha immediately went in to help him up, while Nora and Ren stood back and watched. After Haiiden had put his sword back in his sheath, he knelt down to help Jaune up as well. Jaune patted himself down to make sure that he wasn't hurt, then wiped off any dirt and looked to his team, welcoming them with an awkward smile.

"Thanks guys," he said nervously, while Pyrrha looked over Jaune to make sure there were no injuries, and then glanced over at Haiiden with displeasure. She wondered if that was really the best way to open the locker without hurting him.

"You ok, Jaune?" she asked him again, as she was still concerned for him, even when it was apparent that he was fine, and she put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. He just shrugged it off and raised his hand to wave her away.

"What happened?" Haiiden asked with his face expressing anger, since they all had to leave to retrieve him, which was a situation that could have been avoided. Everyone else already knew that it was Cardin that forced him in to the locker, but Haiiden was wondering why Jaune didn't stand up for himself.

"It's nothing, really," Jaune said as his smile wavered and he looked away a little. Haiiden stared at him for a bit, and was beginning to feel frustrated.

"This isn't 'nothing', you have got to deal with punks like Cardin!" Then he thought back on what Zed stated back at the library the night before, that the only way for Cardin to learn was for people like Jaune to stand up to him. Then he started to think about Ozpin's reasons for allowing Jaune to attend the school. There were people who clearly believed in his abilities, otherwise he wouldn't be here, but he needed to prove that he had earned the opportunity. Then there were also those who would counter that point, like Cecilia. It was true that he didn't know how to fight, and there were people who had come here only to be recognized, like Cardin. After what seemed like hours lost in thought, Haiiden decided to trust Ozpin's decision in allowing him in to Beacon as well as Zed's thoughts that he would need to grow on his own and eventually to stand up for himself.

"Jaune, we can't always be there to help you out," he stated as he put a hand on Jaune's shoulder and shook him a little. Pyrrha stepped around to Jaune's right and looked at Haiiden, then back to Jaune.

"You will have to stand up to thugs like Cardin eventually, but will try our best to cover your back in the meantime," he removed his hand from Jaune's shoulder, only to have it replaced by Pyrrha's; she smiled at him warmly and led him back through the forest to the Bullhead.

* * *

Back in Glynda's class, Zed looked on at a sparring match between Cardin and a small Faunus girl, who had white ears and a white fox tail, and seething in anger as he watched Cardin's disgusting display. Zed's hair was messed up and was pacing back and forth as he continued watching; his eyes were locked on Cardin as he continued his assault on his opponent. Even when she was down he continued to attack relentlessly. Even when he had already proven that he had won, he just kept going.

Haiiden regretted telling him about what happened with Jaune, and now he seemed to be more upset at Cardin than usual. He didn't like Cardin either, but this was what the school did, gave the strong a chance to show what they had, and allowed those with potential to grow. This was different, however and Haiiden couldn't help but look away from the match as Cardin kept knocking his opponent around; despite the number of times she was knocked down, she kept getting back up, unflappable, which Haiiden admired. Cardin went in for a wide, right strike to her stomach which knocked the air out of her and landed her on the floor in a fetal position. The class broke out into groans as if they could feel the hit as well, watching as Cardin approached the Faunus and grabbed her by the hair, propping her on her knees to prepare for a strike to finish the match.

The class gasped as Cardin was about to swing down at the Faunus, with Zed looking on, his eyes glowing with fury, and he tightened his fists in suspense.

" _End the match!_ " he thought to himself at Glynda, shouting in his mind.

"That's enough!" Glynda announced to his relief, and the match was stopped when Glynda grabbed Cardin by the arm and shoved him out of the way. The class clapped when Glynda ended the match, and Zed rushed towards the stage and jumped on it, skipping the stairs entirely. He slowly picked up the Faunus and carried her off the stage, with team HAVC at the bottom waiting to meet them.

"Byeli? You alright?" he asked her with his voice quivering in a mix of anger and concern, she looked up, nodded, and was set down on the floor. Her footing was a little shaky, but she was able to stand on her own.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Zed." She responded quietly and was holding on to his shirt to keep from falling before leaning on Cecilia, who was holding her other arm. Haiiden looked up to notice that Zed's eyes were locked on to his and his hair was messy to the point that you would normally not be able to see his eyes, but the rage in his visage was literally shining through his hair. Haiiden winced as he physically felt Zed's hatred, like a heavy pressure on his chest.

"Wait!" Zed barked out as he noticed Cardin walking off the stage and his voice echoed throughout the classroom. Cardin turned around with a grin to see Zed slowly walking up the stairs and looking him dead in the eye then cracking his knuckles; he then decided to fix his hair as he attempted to regain his composure.

"I see we have a challenger." Glynda pointed out and looked towards Cardin to see if he would accept the challenge.

"What is he doing?" Cecilia asked, however Haiiden wasn't paying attention as he couldn't help but look at his friend. He had only seen this side of Zed a few times, and each time was scarier than the last. His happy and smiling friend, who was constantly making jokes and flirting, always hid a bit of a monster inside him. Both he and Cecilia knew what he said back at the library the night before that simply taking on Cardin wouldn't work. He was a senior student and it was to be expected that he would be the better fighter, so beating him wouldn't teach him a lesson.

"He wants to prove a different kind of point. This is more for him," Haiiden said as he took Byeli by the hand and guided her back to where HAVC usually stood among the spectators alongside JNPR, who were looking at the stage nervously as Zed just stood there.

"Okay then, ready your weapons," Glynda announced, and Cardin put his mace on his shoulder as he took a few steps forward, then stopped. Zed quietly pulled out a karambit and dropped it on to the floor of the stage and kicked it to the side. Then he rolled up his sleeves while still maintaining eye contact, and when he finished, he raised his hands in the air in a taunting gesture.

"I don't need a weapon to take you. Come on, Cardin, have you got the minerals to face an unarmed man?" he stated at first with a chuckle, then he cracked his neck and shook his arms to loosen up his limbs. He tilted his head to the side and his hair was a mess again, but he still continued to look straight at Cardin. Cardin grinned and nodded, a look of ridicule in his eyes.

"Cardin Winchester has agreed to Zed's challenge," Goodwitch announced to the class, tapping some data into her Scroll. "Zed has agreed to fight without a weapon."

The class laughed when Zed declared that he wouldn't need a weapon; apparently Cardin had already declared himself the tough guy in the class. Some thought it was funny that someone would try beat him unarmed, even if it was a senior student. Cardin's smirk widened, and he took a few huge steps forward and pulled back his dominant arm, which held his mace; he used his left arm as a counter weight as he swung for Zed.

Zed stomped his right foot down behind him and pushed himself forward. Sliding on his knees under Cardin's left arm as he swung and jumped up on his feet, spinning to gain momentum and kicked behind Cardin's legs as he was pulling back from his failed attack; Cardin was swept off his feet. As he fell back, Zed then swung his foot back after the kick to act as his own counterweight and brought down his arm for a clothesline onto Cardin's neck, which slammed him down on to the stage floor with a loud "BANG".

Zed then backed away from him and allowed Cardin to get up off the floor. Cardin rolled over and quickly got up, clearly furious now, and he started to hold his mace with both hands and went in for another attack, swinging down right at him again; Zed caught Cardin by his right elbow and guided the strike so that it missed him completely. Then went for a left hook to Cardin's jaw and as it connected, embers seemed to expel themselves from his hand. While Cardin was reeling to his left, Zed then brought up his left arm again and elbowed him, which made him stand straight once more. Zed went for a right hook to his cheek this time and embers again exploded from the contact.

Cardin spun, then staggered a little while holding his cheek, and looked to Zed with surprise, only to see him just stretching his arms out again as he had before, Cardin noticed that Zed seemed even angrier now, breathing heavily through his teeth and his eyes turned from their usual green to a fiery orange.

Out of nowhere, Zed rushed forward, but Cardin was not expecting this sudden attack, and tried to counter. Slowly pulling back his arm, Zed kicked away the counter and went for another right hook to Cardin's face, then a jab at the ribs with his left arm. After this assault, Zed grabbed Cardin by the hair with his right hand and forced his head down on to Zed's knee as he brought it up into Cardin's nose, then slammed his palms against Cardin's ears before grabbing his hair again and winding back for another knee to the face. Each blow with his hands spewed more and more embers, and made a sound like an inferno dancing on the wind that echoed throughout the class.

The fifth knee to his head reeled Cardin back, but towards the edge of the stage. Realizing that Cardin falling off the stage would result in an "out of bounds" victory for Zed, he lunged forward and grabbed Cardin by the collar of his breastplate then threw him back into the sparring zone. He stepped back so that he was a few feet away from Cardin, but still parallel to him, which gave them both equal room in the sparring area. Cardin wheezed as a sharp jab to his ribs knocked the breath out of him; he looked up to Zed with a grin on his face, which only set off Zed even more.

Still, he could see genuine fear in Cardin's eyes, which was good; it wasn't enough to merely beat Cardin: he wanted to see the bastard completely broken. Zed cried out, a bellowing war cry, and rushed forward, jumping up, then striking down on Cardin's head, which forced him back but kept his head low. Zed then uppercut him with his right arm and swung it to the side as a counterweight again for another strike to the ribs with his left fist. The attack made Cardin reel forward again, and Zed took the opportunity to bring down his elbow on to Cardin's head.

Without thinking, Cardin tried to counter and swung wide but was caught, the mace landing on the stage, creating a crater on the wooden floor. Zed opened his left fist and struck Cardin's right elbow with his palm; Zed then kneed him on the bridge of the nose which forced him back, and he was holding his already bloody face. Zed then took hold of Cardin's mace, using its handle to thrust into his gut and causing Cardin to clutch at his stomach.

Zed backed away a little, with some of the students thinking that this is where the match would end, but instead Zed held the mace like he would a golf club and skipped to his side and towards Cardin. He gained enough momentum for a massive strike, which went low and brought it upward towards Cardin's head. The force of the assault caused him to stand straight, which left him staggering and dazed. For the final attack, Zed spun the mace as though he was in a hammer throw competition, winding up for a toss, and threw the mace back at Cardin. Having aimed for his chest, the force of the impact knocked him off the stage and against the wall; the wall cracked where Cardin hit it, and he fell to the floor.

"Winner!" Glynda declared, but the crowd didn't clap or cheer, as if they were stunned and weren't sure if they should. Zed glared at Cardin as he got up on his hands and knees, the force of the attack and his hitting the wall had dented his breastplate. They all watched him struggle to take it off so that he could breathe. When he did manage to pry off his breastplate, he put a hand on to his knee and took a few deep breaths; looking up with a mixture of fear and rage towards Zed, as he stormed off the stage with a cry of victory and spat upon the ground, in Cardin's direction.

As he returned to his team, some of the students backed away from Zed as he stalked through the group. His hands were still tightened and shook in what seemed to be anger, but Haiiden didn't realize it until after Zed was standing next to him that it wasn't anger that he was feeling now. Instead it was a cold, empty feeling, with Zed shivering and huddling close to himself. The anger had left his eyes and was then replaced by a look of sadness.

Zed looked to his left to see Byeli looking up at him, afraid of what she had just witnessed and looked away when Zed made eye contact. Haiiden kept looking at Zed, feeling the cold being replaced by a special warmth, the same warmth he had always felt from his friend. He looked down to Byeli to see she was still looking away out of fear, only for her curiosity to win over, and she looked back up. This time to see Zed smiling back at her but not with his usual grin, instead it was a soft and warm smile.

He popped out the fox ears out of his hair, and with a wink, he wiggled them at her.


	6. Vol 1: Chapter 6

( **A month and a half into the first semester at Beacon Academy** )

Headmaster Ozpin looked down at the Kingdom of Vale from his office at the top the central tower at Beacon Academy, and above his head was a kinetic sculpture of moving clockwork parts that denoted the never-ending, unrelenting passage of time, the grind of years and eras, and eons; beyond the tower, the Kingdom of Vale was considered to be a safe haven from the Grimm, and a beacon of civilization, hence the Academy's name. Gazing down upon the city, he could see lights, and people happily walking through the streets.

" _They seem to almost have forgotten that we are in a constant struggle for survival,"_ Ozpin thought. _"They live in blessed ignorance, for they are not the ones who stand against the horror and the harbingers of human and Faunus extinction. Instead, they are the ones who reap the benefits from the losses of many Huntsmen and Huntresses that came before them. No one could blame them, however, as the life of a Huntsman is full of hardship, and many have sacrificed all they had to better the lives of everyone else. It takes a very special kind of person to be a Huntsman; let them live in this blissful ignorance, as this is the only delusion that they have that gives them hope. It is also what Huntsmen and Huntresses work for: to give life to this delusion and make it a reality."_

Standing with his signature coffee cup in hand, which bore the crossed axes that were the symbol of the Kingdom, Ozpin looked down and watched as the city zipped along with its usual business. With trucks carrying produce to the part of town that contained the farmer's market, and friends walked together along the sidewalks where most of the cafes were set up; some were sitting down and enjoying lengthy conversations, while others walked past them hastily on their way to meet friends and loved ones. His gaze then turned to the docks, where he watched as shipments came in from the other Kingdoms, cargo haulers that brought in luxury goods as well as other necessities and contributions for the upcoming Vytal Festival, and most importantly, Dust.

Ozpin watched in admiration, and with a hint of sorrow, before his thoughts were then interrupted as Glynda Goodwitch entered his office. His mind was forced back in to this harsh reality and as she approached him, he was no longer looking out into Vale, but at his own reflection. As he made eye contact with himself, Glynda continued to make her way across the office as she input some things into her Scroll. She stopped in front of Ozpin's desk while she entered in the last commands and keystrokes before putting away her Scroll and looking up at him.

"How are they?" he asked her without turning around to face her; instead, he looked at her reflection in the window. Her face expressed the usual perturbed look she almost always wore.

"Fighting, as usual. I swear, they are completely incompatible with each other, sir," she responded with as much respect she could muster through the frustration she felt for Team HAVC. With her Scroll in her grasp, she kept her hands together in front of her. "In fact, a lot of the team's members are generally incompatible with each other: personality, their fighting styles as well as backgrounds."

"They will grow out of it, Glynda. I wouldn't worry about the students," Ozpin said to her before drawing his cup to his mouth in order to take a sip, but was interrupted by Glynda just as it reached his lips. He was only able to get a whiff of it, the scent tickling his nose and teasing him slightly with its succulence; it was a rare and rich brew, loaded with heavy cream and sugar.

"That may be, but it doesn't change the fact that this incompatibility is affecting them now." She brought up her Scroll again and looked down to read the notes that she had been making.

"With team RWBY, Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, for example: Ruby's inability to sit still and think, while Weiss's more calculating and serious nature don't go well together." She pressed a final button on her Scroll and looked up with a smile. Ozpin's computer lit up as it received the notes Glynda had been making. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few moments before turning around to sit at his desk, and studied the information. He took a long draught from his cup, then set it down next to four folders that had been previously sitting on his desk. His eyes were scanning over the information; he took some time to process what he was reading before looking up at Glynda with a quirked brow.

"Is this the list of teams _you_ would have made?" He asked her as he put his hands together over his mouth and leaned forward in his seat with his eyes trained on Glynda's.

"It's the best I can make of them, sir. Each of their abilities, their fighting styles and personalities would complement each other, thus improving their combat performance." Ozpin kept his gaze upon Glynda for a few more moments, and her smile slowly disappeared as she awaited an answer.

"You are making a situation where they would be most comfortable. No internal struggles or adversity." Ozpin responded after a few moments of silence.

"Of course, sir. We don't need the students bickering amongst themselves, when they need to be working together to fight a greater enemy," she replied. He began ponder to himself for a few moments as he leaned back in his chair. He thought for a bit as he smiled at her, before chuckling to himself as he was not able to keep his ordinarily stoic demeanor with her.

"You were always the calculating and efficient one, Glynda, which always makes me glad that I have you working with me," Ozpin complemented her as he tilted his head to the side, a slightly lopsided smile upon his face.

"Thank you. So, will you consider this? It isn't too late, sir." Her eyes lit up as Ozpin praised her, but was also feeling a sense of confusion since it wasn't a reply to her point.

"No, the teams stay as they are," Ozpin answered as he placed his hands on his desk. With one hand over the pile of folders, he did not notice that he had slightly pushed it to the side as he lifted himself from his seat. The folders were disturbed, and revealed one specific folder with the words "CLASSIFIED", in big red letters. "They need this adversity. For example, Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, as you so eloquently put it, are in fact different, but it is that difference that will help them grow as a team, as well as individually. If I remember correctly, they have already reconciled their differences and they seem to be working better together now."

"What about JNPR? I still stand by my assumption that Jaune has fabricated his credentials and transcripts, which is evinced by his inability to fight." She pointed out and waited silently to hear what Ozpin's justification would be.

"It's true that he is performing below standards, but that will be easily remedied. He has the heart to lead his team and to keep them together, which in the end _will_ make them stronger, and in return, will allow them to grow to become better Huntsmen." Glynda turned away as she thought to herself, her eyes scanning from side to side as if she were reading something in her mind that was visually manifesting itself in front of her. After a few moments, she stopped herself and looked up with her eyes narrowed, but with one brow raised. She felt like she had been challenging him on several of his points, but was curious to his justifications.

"What about HAVC?" she asked, and Ozpin knew that the topic would have been raised eventually, but it still left him speechless nonetheless. He knew the answer, but was lost in thought as he tried to find the right words to best convey his reasoning.

"HAVC is different. They have faced adversity all of their lives, and in turn it has made them strong, but," he responded slowly, then trailed off. He had asked himself many times about HAVC and was slightly unsure of the answer himself, until now.

"Some of them are still in resentment over Haiiden leaving." Glynda interjected, but then tilted her head to the side as Ozpin responded with a quick shake of his head.

"They are strong," he continued as he started again from where he left off.

"Their fighting ability demonstrates that well enough, but what about their spirit?" he asked her, then looked down at the pile of folders and caught a glimpse of the big red lettering which read "CLASSIFIED" printed on one of them.

"They are broken, Glynda, still haunted by old demons that have prevented them from healing."

Glynda thought for a moment as to what Ozpin meant by "demons", then her mind wandered to Haiiden's past. The thought made her wince to herself as she imagined it with sympathy, the loss of his mother and how he was alone until he met Zed. Then she began to wonder if there was a hidden meaning behind what Ozpin said, and if these so called "demons" were why they were put together in the first place. Then another thought sprung to mind: was there anything that the rest of Team HAVC suppressed? What did each individual member hide, and what were their hidden motivations that had made them want to join Beacon, to become Huntsmen? Cecilia and Haiiden had gotten along when they first started their time at Beacon. There were some disagreements, of course, but it was always resolved with a few punches. However, after Haiiden left, it all changed; something had already grown like a cancer inside of Cecilia that made her hate him, especially after his return.

Their discussion was then interrupted by a knock on the door, Glynda turned and straightened her dress while Ozpin took a deep breath. "You may enter."

The door slowly opened as Cecilia peered tentatively inside, and saw both Goodwitch and Ozpin looking back at her. She hesitantly walked in with her brother following behind her, his face expressing worry. They stopped in front of the door as it closed shut behind them.

Cecilia stopped, putting her hands behind her back and nodded in greeting.

"Headmaster. Professor Goodwitch. May I have a word, please?"

* * *

In the northern part of Vale, Fox and Haiiden were sitting next to the fountain in the central plaza; the breeze gently blew the mist from the fountain against the back of their necks. They both sighed, as this was a good break after walking around all day with Team CFVY. Next to them was Yatsuhashi, who was leaning forward with a plate of food on his lap from one of the nearby restaurants, and was trying to keep it warm by keeping it out of the wind. They were silently waiting for Coco and Velvet to return from shopping, and hunting for materials to make their outfits for the upcoming Vytal Festival. Even with it being over a semester away, travelers from the other Kingdoms were visiting to help with its preparations. Banners were already being hung all over the city as they welcomed visitors, since the Kingdom of Vale would be hosting this year's Festival.

Not only were they waiting for the girls, but they were also waiting for Zed. He had asked Team CNBR to join them, and wanted everyone else to wait up for them. They usually tried to find time to study in the school's library, but after what happened with Zed, and the stress of school, everyone decided to take a day off and to just set aside some time for themselves: no talk of schoolwork or anything school related. However, Fox was sitting restlessly, which was unusual since he was usually calm and collected.

"So, what exactly happened with Zed?" he asked Haiiden, who responded with a confused look for a few moments. Haiiden came to the conclusion that Fox had been holding off from asking, but who could blame him? Zed's sparring match with Cardin, news of which had spread throughout the school, was in reality an old fashioned beat-down, and a brutally savage one at that. Since then, a lot of the senior teams and newer students had been afraid of approaching him. Zed usually never showed this side of himself; he had grown used to hiding it, and he usually hid it very well. What had happened had come as a shock to everyone, especially to those who knew him. As usual, Yatsuhashi would not add to the conversation and would just occasionally look up when a point was made; he turned his head and looked at Haiiden as he awaited an answer, as did Fox. Yatsuhashi never directly got involved unless he was brought into a discussion, and when he was directly addressed, he would only respond with grunts, some hand gestures, and the occasion one-word answer.

"Nothing happened. He was just upset, and he doesn't like thugs or bullies," Haiiden responded and shrugged it away as he tried to play it off as if it was nothing, but the nagging feeling inside him had reminded him that he knew that it wasn't. Far from it.

"So the fire-orange eyes and flaming fists were nothing then?" Fox asked again as he persisted in trying to get the truth. Haiiden swallowed nervously and breathed in deeply; he had hoped that his first answer would have been enough to get Fox to drop the subject. Instead, it had only made Fox and Yatsuhashi more curious, as they leaned in to Haiiden in the hopes that he would reveal more to them.

"You didn't hear it from me, but what you saw was his Semblance," he answered in a hushed voice, at first the two didn't know how to respond and just looked back at each other.

"He loses himself in the fight, while it makes him strong." Haiiden added, rubbing his thumb on his nose out of nervousness as he remembered the dark and cold feeling he had felt from Zed.

"What, you mean like he goes crazy?" Fox joked with a raised eyebrow, shaking his head at the thought and turned back to Yatsuhashi, who only responded with a shrug. Haiiden scoffed and laughed ironically at Fox's attempt at humor, as he didn't find the joke to really be funny in the slightest.

"Yeah, 'crazy,'" Haiiden replied coldly.

"No offense," Fox added and his expression changed to express concern as he wondered if he had offended Haiiden. Haiiden only looked at him with his jaw open, and was speechless; then he shook his head while he shifted in position. He paused for a moment as he tried to find the right words to say in reply, and finally turned back to Fox when he finished, then leaned forward.

"Fox, you know what _my_ Semblance is," Haiiden said coldly as he flexed his right hand, and the leather on each finger of his glove rubbed against his palm. Fox swallowed and leaned away while keeping his eyes trained on Haiiden's right hand; his face not showing anger, but rather apprehension as he thought back to what he felt from Zed. Then Haiiden thought of a better way to convey his point to try and show them what he meant.

"Its not him when hes like that; what is the first thing you think about whenever you hear the name 'Zed?'" Yatsuhashi swallowed the last of his food and cleared his throat. Haiiden looked up at him from around Fox, who also turned to face him as he set down his plate at his feet and traced his fingers alone his cheeks, imitating a smile.

"Exactly, Yatsu. Thank you." Haiiden let out a sigh of exasperation and he leaned back towards the fountain, wishing to feel the mist again, but the gentle breeze was gone. He tried to calm himself as he knew he shouldn't be upset with Fox. It wasn't his fault that he was curious, and Zed always hid a lot behind that cheesy, stupid grin.

"He hates his Semblance, as he knows that it isn't really him when he uses it, and after seeing it, I'm sure you agree," Haiiden pointed out and with the help of Yatsuhashi, he felt he had managed to show the contrast between the normal Zed that they knew, and the one that they had seen in the sparring arena.

"However, he uses that feeling to push himself, as he wants to be a better fighter so that he wouldn't have to rely on it." Haiiden sighed, but then jumped in his seat upon noticing Zed in the distance and turned to Fox and Yatsuhashi, putting a finger to his lips to signal to them to keep quiet. They both replied with a nod and stood up together and walked forward to meet with Zed, who was accompanied by four other students who they believed to be Team CNBR.

CNBR, whose leader was Celise, was a rather outgoing person, who usually gets close to people when she speaks to them, and always in a flirtatious manner. Next to her was the Faunus that fought against Cardin, named Byeli, who had a skip in her step as she followed next to her leader. On the other side of Zed, was the more reclusive member of CNBR, Nadira, and next to her was the rather lazy, Raine.

"You guys were just sitting here the entire time?" Coco asked with a smirk as she appeared out of nowhere, and came up from behind Haiiden, Fox and Yatsuhashi. With her was Velvet, the both of them weighed down by multiple shopping bags. Upon closer inspection it seemed Coco's trademark handbag was missing from the pile and Velvet was wearing a newly acquired gold and scarlet purse. The trio just shrugged in response as they were trying to not make it a big deal; besides, they agreed to try and have fun while they were here but they all knew it was mostly for Coco and Velvet to go shopping together. Everyone else just tagged along to spend time with one another without being bored over at Beacon by themselves.

Coco then responded with a shake of her head before turning to Velvet. "Thanks again for the help, can't believe I forgot my bag at the dorm." Velvet just tilted her head and smiled at her as she set her bags down on the ground, only for them to be picked up by Yatsuhashi. Coco then noticed and handed her bags over to him as well. He took them with the same hand that he used for Velvet's things, and bowed.

"So, you didn't take the time to look for something better for yourself, Haiiden?" Coco asked, and the question made Haiiden quirk a brow. He then spread his arms wide to look at himself: He wore all white, with pants that went down to his knees and were tucked into his metal greaves, as well as a coat that extended past the knees, but was tied around his waist. The sleeve on his left arm was tucked underneath his gauntlet and he wore a leather glove on his right hand. Topping it off was a white shawl around his neck, which he never left his dorm without.

"What's wrong with this look?" Haiiden asked with a chuckle as he tried to dismiss it as a playful joke.

"Yeah!" Zed jumped in as his group finally met up with everyone else with his hands in his pockets, and skipped in between Coco and Haiiden. Standing to Haiiden's left then putting a finger and thumb to his chin to mimic someone in thought.

"I kind of like the 'mysterious warrior' look. It makes you wonder: 'Who is Haiiden'?"

Velvet giggled at the remark, while Coco just rolled her eyes. "It's clichéd, Zed." Zed seemed to be better than he was a few weeks ago, his grin had returned as well as his playful and joking nature. He just waved off Coco dismissively and turned to CNBR to introduce them. At that moment, the bells from a nearby clock tower began to ring, the signal that it was late and the group groaned with disappointment as they knew that it was time to return to Beacon for the night.

"We just got here! Come on!" Zed said with a sigh of frustration as he had spent most of the morning trying to convince Cecilia and Vaughn to join them for the outing. She had been reluctant, however, and in the end, she refused to go; Vaughn had stayed behind with his sister.

"Awww. It seems as though the big baby doesn't want to go to bed," Celise said while showing off a grin similar to Zed's and patted him on the cheek.

"I'm serious, I brought you guys here so we could have fun and get to know each other," Zed then swatted away Cerise's hand and looked back with his own grin, but it wavered a little.

"We can do that while we head back," Velvet said as she waved at Haiiden and Zed as CFVY and CNBR begin to walk away, side by side.

"Nah it's alright. We will see you tomorrow," Haiiden said as he waved back to the group as they disappeared into the night.

"You still got that fake ID, Zed?" he smiled back to Haiiden as he put an arm around his shoulder as they walked towards one of the nearby bars.

"I do," said Zed. "And great minds think alike. Let's get completely bladdered."

They had stopped by an outdoor bar as they sat together and ordered a couple of drinks. Glynda would kill them if she ever found out, so at least Haiiden had Zed with him to help make up an alibi. Zed droned on, bragging about the ladies that he had met, and his attempts to hook up with them. With every story Haiiden just quietly listened to his friend and smiled as he knew how the stories would end, always with failure, but he was glad that his friend had returned to what he considered normal. A few hours went by, and the night had begun to roll in, which in turn darkened the streets until they were illuminated by the streetlights. Haiiden and Zed both went quiet after a while as the alcohol finally set in, with Zed keeping his elbow on the table and his head resting on his palm.

"Haiiden, have I ever told you that I think of you as a better person than I am?" Zed asked him out of the blue, then took a deep breath before leaning back in his seat. Haiiden sighed as he had been asked that question before, on multiple occasions, and he knew that it was merely the drinks talking. In his mind, he felt that even though his friend looked like he was back to normal, he still felt guilty about his actions. Haiiden looked down and swirled his drink slowly as he tried to remember the last time Zed had asked him that question.

"Once or twice, I usually don't pay attention to it, nor do I think about it," He replied while looking back at Zed.

"You should." Zed patted him on the back and leaned in closer to his friend.

"I have always been angry at everything. I hate everything and you of all people should know that." Haiiden continued to sit and stare, looking down at his drink as he swirled it in his hand with a sigh. Zed shook his head and sat back in his seat.

"I'm sorry for what happened, I know you can feel these things, and I didn't want you to see that side of me again," Zed continued as he slammed a hand on to Haiiden's shoulder and he could feel Zed trying to keep himself from falling over.

"Its just that, I often wonder as to why we fight, and if it's worth it. If it's not the Grimm that is killing us, then it's us killing each other, and so I look at you and wonder. From what you have told me and shown me of your Semblance, I often wonder how you can continue on, knowing that things aren't so bright right now. From what I have noticed, you take what you see and feel and that makes you compassionate to those around you. You use it push yourself forward, despite all that has happened to you," Zed was panting as he tried to finish it all in one breath, and was rocking back in forth in his seat as his lack of breath, coupled with the alcohol, made him feel dizzy. Haiiden looked over at his friend and shrugged at him, then he put his hand on Zed's shoulder.

"I envy you. I wish I had what you had," Zed said in almost a whisper. Upon hearing that, Haiiden shook his head and moved his gauntlet up to his face to hide himself.

" _Trust me. You shouldn't envy me,"_ Haiiden stopped himself and shook his head after he realized what he had just said. However when he shook his head it caused him to lose balance and fall over. Zed tried his best to catch himself, but failed and fell on to his bottom.

"That is enough for the night. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea." He stood up while pulling his friend up as well, and put an arm around him before helping him back to the dorm.

* * *

The next day, Haiiden and Jaune had another sparing match in Glynda's class. Haiiden decided to take it slow and to go easy on him, keeping his strikes wide and slow to give Jaune an opportunity to learn when to counter, but every time Jaune failed to take the opportunity, and went down anyway.

"Come on Jaune, I can count at least ten times off the top of my head where you could have won." He reached down to take Jaune by the hand and pulled him up, patting him on the back and sliding his hand to Jaune's shoulder as they both walked off the stage.

"No. You stay here, Haiiden," Glynda almost whispered to him and Haiiden looked back at her with a confused expression. He let Jaune go on alone and as he left the stage he noticed someone else walking up the steps and onto the stage with her claymore in hand and her eyes glowing blue like ice.


	7. Vol 1: Chapter 7

Haiiden shifted in position as he watched his Cecilia slowly walk up the stairs and on to the stage, her claymore in hand. The class was silent at first, but the silence was broken as the crowd erupted into confused chatter. Zed stared at the stage with his mouth wide open in shock, Team JNPR standing next to him with similar expressions. When Cecilia reached the top of the stairs, she took a few paces forward before stopping just inside striking distance of Haiiden.

"Wh- Wha-?" Haiiden stammered as he tried to make sense of what was going on, then glanced at her weapon before instinctively stepping back away from her blade. She stood in silence in front of the class, and flexed her free hand into a fist, then relaxed it repeatedly. Glynda watched from the sideline and appeared as if she was ready to announce something, but was waiting for to see if either student wanted to say anything. Zed took a few steps to the side and was about ready to step up on to the stage to interfere, but was stopped by Vaughn. His face expressed worry as he looked at the stage, then back to Zed as he pushed him back into the crowd. Zed stared at Vaughn with widened eyes, and his face took on a more pensive expression.

"Sir, I feel that you are unfit to lead Team HAVC!" Cecilia declared as she held her head high and gazed at Haiiden from across the stage. Zed's eyes narrowed on Vaughn upon hearing Cecilia's declaration, and his eyes turned to a fiery orange color. When he noticed, Vaughn took his hands off Zed and raised them slowly, as if in surrender, to show that he wasn't going to touch him again.

"Zed, you know I have great respect for the Captain," Vaughn said slowly as he kept eye contact with Zed as he backed away from him. Zed didn't respond; instead, he kept his eyes locked on Vaughn, while his nostrils began to flare as his breathing became ragged and heavy.

"What's going on?" Jaune asked as he noticed Zed's rapidly darkening mood. Zed's fiery and angry demeanor was making him nervous, and while Jaune wasn't quite sure what was happening onstage, he felt as though the dynamic between Zed and Vaughn was rapidly spiraling toward violence.

"…But Cecilia is my sister. My ultimate loyalties are to my family," Vaughn continued and swallowed nervously as Zed began to approach him slowly. Pyrrha stepped forward and grabbed Zed by the shoulder, stopping him right where he was. The sudden contact made Zed jump, and quickly turned his head to face her. The reaction caught Pyrrha off guard, but she stood her ground and held Zed in place.

"I have spoken with the Headmaster!" Cecilia exclaimed. "He and Professor Goodwitch have agreed to arrange this duel between us, and the winner leads HAVC!" Cecilia smiled, as half of the class gasped, while the other half again erupted into chatter, with some placing bets amongst themselves as to who would win. Cardin and members of team CRDL could be heard laughing. Zed shook his head and ground his teeth before pushing Pyrrha away and lunging toward Vaughn, pinning him against the wall and lifting him off the ground by holding his hand around Vaughn's throat.

"So this is why nobody saw you two yesterday," Zed said in a low voice with a guttural growl as he sucked air between his clenched teeth. At first, he had thought that she was merely going to make a big show out of something that should have been handled privately; it only served to enrage him when he realized that she had taken it a step further, a step too far. Not only had she leveraged Ozpin- Haiiden's Godfather- against her Captain in a traitorous move that was liable to end in bloodshed, but the thought that Vaughn might have had a hand in it nearly made him blow his stack.

"Zed come on, you know I wouldn't condone something like this! I tried to dissuade her, but she was adamant!" Vaughn tried to explain as he choked and his face began to purple, then Pyrrha and Ren rushed in and grabbed Zed by the arms, but were only able to make him budge with the help of a few other students from various other teams, including, surprisingly, two members of Team CRDL. When they had managed to pull him off of Vaughn, he slid down the wall while holding a hand to his throat as he gasped and tried to regain his breath, his color returning to normal. Zed stood and looked down on Vaughn for a bit then calmed down as his eyes turned back to their normal green, and offered a hand to Vaughn.

"I didn't know you could stage a team coup," Nora pondered as she tilted her head to the side and put a finger on her chin.

"You can't. At least I don't think anyone ever has before," said Vaughn as got to his feet with Zed's help, and the pair rejoined the crowd, along with Team JNPR.

"I can't imagine what Ozpin was thinking when he agreed to this," Pyrrha said, shaking her head.

"You don't think he can win?" Ren asked as folded his arms and watched the stage. Haiiden's mouth was wide open when he turned to Glynda for confirmation and was answered with a nod of her head. Vaughn and Zed only watched in silence as both of their teammates were poised to fight.

Cecilia tilted her head, her smile turning in to an arrogant smirk, and then whipped her hair to move it away from her eyes. She slowly raised her claymore up to chest level, and as it cut lazily through the air, it emitted a sharp ringing sound that pierced the assembly hall. She placed her hand on the cross guard and underneath her hand emanated an icy blue glow as she moved her palm down the blade. She continued to move her hand along the steel, and it left behind a trail of blue light that flickered with an ethereal flame. Cecilia was just toying with Haiiden in her opening moves as she tried to give him the impression that she wasn't taking the match seriously; it was endemic of her hatred and disrespect for him, but it was also designed to anger him, and he knew this; well aware that one of the basic elements of military strategy is to enrage your opponent, and that angry enemies make foolish mistakes; he maintained his composure, and made a conscious decision not to fall into her trap and lose control of his emotions.

Haiiden swallowed nervously and took a few paces back before lowering himself to prepare for Cecilia's real attack. She stepped forward and twirled her sword in front of a couple of times, which left behind a cold and faint flame as it swirled through the air. She struck downwards towards Haiiden but he dodged it by jumping back, and even though her attacks were still wide and sluggish, he still felt the cold chill of her blade as it moved through the air. She then spun quickly and brought her sword in low, swinging upwards, even though Haiiden was still out of reach, but the swing left behind another flame which turned into a mist that floated towards him. He moved his gauntlet in the way of the mist and as the droplets came into contact with him, they immediately formed into ice with terrifying speed.

The trail had turned to ice at her command, which rose up from the floor and engulfed his arm, which left him anchored in position. The sudden formation startled him, and he didn't know how to react, but tried to pull away from the ice with quick jerks, that made no progress as the ice remained firm, and only crackled. Cecilia's feet pounded against the wood floor of the stage as she rushed in and leapt on top of the ice, swinging down on Haiiden, who blocked the incoming attack with his sword and counterattacked with a swipe of his blade under her feet. She jumped up to avoid the slash, then landed clumsily on the uneven surface of the ice; this had the effect of knocking her down on to the ice with enough force to break it. Once shattered, the ice melted almost instantly, and freed Haiiden's arm again. As the ice broke apart, Cecilia did a backflip through the air and landed in a crouch a few yards away from Haiiden.

His mind was still muddled as he tried his hardest to make sense of this new and unexpected combat style, and glanced quickly down at his arm for a split before he heard the ringing of her blade again. He quickly looked up to see her descending from a jump and slashing downward. Her attack missed as he made a last second feint to the side, then slid under her and rolled past as she crashed to the floor. Quickly getting to his feet, he readied his blade, then rushed in for a counter attack, raising his arm up and slashing downward, only for it to be blocked; the sudden contact expelled more of the flames from her blade in all directions.

Her eyes widened and she pushed forward to force Haiiden backward, and she quickly jumped towards the other end of the stage, a tactic to give her some maneuvering room to plan her next assault. _"Of course, would that normally be the case against someone with a sword?"_ he wondered to himself as he stared. _"But she also uses a sword, so why would she keep distance like this?"_ This seemingly new style that Cecilia was presenting caught him off guard as she usually fought in close quarters, but this was something altogether new. She swung her sword in the air again and the trail flew towards Haiiden once more, but he quickly stepped out of the way.

Just as he dodged the attack, Cecilia slashed again, and another flaming trail of blue spewed out towards him; this time, he was too late to move and ice formed around his feet, which pinned him to the stage. Smiling mercilessly, Cecilia lowered herself and rushed toward him, then struck downwards with her claymore as each attack expelled more of the flames every time Haiiden parried; each blow from her heavy blade forced him to lean back as she struck wildly at him, but was unable to step back to give himself space. He then brought his blade low and swung upward, deflecting her attack and making her stagger back, which gave Haiiden enough time to flip his sword so that he was holding it by the blade and slammed the cross guard down on to the ice and shattered it.

With both hands on her blade, Cecilia rushed towards Haiiden and jammed the handle of her sword into his stomach. The attack made him reel back, then he tripped on the rapidly melting ice as he slid towards the stairs, but the ice melted completely, and he stopped just short of the edge. When he got up to see why it had melted, he noticed that Cecilia's blade no longer had its glow. She must have turned it off, and decided to switch to a different style of combat. She went in for another attack, this time spinning and then swinging her handle to use as a club, which barely missed his head. She then lowered herself to try to turn his dodge against him, and used the tip of her blade to try and thrust it into a weak spot in Haiiden's greaves, but he dodged at the last second while the tip of her blade scraped against the metal.

It wasn't enough, however, as she kept pressing the attack, spinning again on the tips of her feet, and brought the handle of her sword down and swept it under his right foot, which made him fall on his back. His sword was resting on his chest, his right hand still gripping the handle as his eyes widened while she went in for another assault, and was thrusting the tip towards his neck. The crowd gasped as they realized what was happening, and with only a fraction of a second to think, he used his gauntlet and grabbed the tip of her steel, deflecting the sword, with both blades grinding against each other. Her claymore slid down the length of his blade as it barely missed his neck and embedded itself in the stage floor.

"Is she trying to kill him?" Zed cried out as he looked back in horror looked on with growing apprehension. He knew that she hated Haiiden, but he never knew that she hated him so much as to try to murder him. Haiiden's breath caught in his throat for a moment as his mind cleared and he snapped back to reality, then noticed he was looking to his left and saw the blade as it was thrust into the floor less than an inch from his throat. He quickly swept his legs under Cecilia's, making her clatter to the floor, and rolled backward to leap to his feet. She quickly attempted to do the same, but failed as Haiiden kicked her savagely, then she instead reached for her sword, but again, she failed, stopped by Haiiden as she saw his blade being pointed at her throat, and also seeing a mix of disbelief and anger on his face.

"Win-" Glynda was about to announce the end of the match and was seemingly eager to end it especially given how the match had turned out.

"Not yet!" Haiiden screamed to her in rage as he lowered his sword and raised his gauntlet to his usual stance and backed away. He motioned to Cecilia to rise and pick up her sword, while her gaze switched between him and her sword. She hesitantly got to her feet and stretched out her hand, lovingly wrapping her fingers around the handle and withdrawing it from the wood of the floor. Upon picking up the sword, she then flashed a derisive smirk at him.

"You should have taken the win," she spat upon the ground at him, as she glided her hand down the length of her blade and made the flames reappear.

Haiiden rushed her just as she lowered her blade, leaving her unprepared as she had taken too long to get ready, and was forced into a defensive posture. Every strike was fluid and swift as he twirled his sword in the air to build momentum for the next one, while spinning and stepping towards her as if it was a dance. Zed looked on at the stage and noticed Haiiden's passive look as if he was staring at nothing. As he looked on in disbelief, Haiiden closed his eyes as he swung his sword with grace and precision. His actions demonstrated that he had a keen sense of his surroundings, but his face looked as though, sightless, he was lost in a dream, as if he was remembering something pleasant, which made the mixture of attacks and the dance of his feet seem organic, and beautiful.

As he fought, Haiiden thought of his mother, and the tales of the seemingly-choreographed dances she executed whenever she fought the Grimm.

Cecilia was dumbstruck as she was being slowly forced back off the stage by an opponent who could not even be troubled to open his eyes; she blocked every incoming attack, but was forced to remain on the defensive. She completely lost her composure. "Look at me, damn you!" she screamed at Haiiden as she fought with all her might. Every deflection was met with another swift attack, as if every time she blocked one, he would only leverage the change in momentum and pulled back for another quick strike. Every spin and sidestep in his little dance made his shawl and coat flow in the air, which was a distraction to her.

"Enough of this!" she screeched in rage to herself and tried to step forward and ram him with her shoulder but missed as he sidestepped away, his eyes still firmly closed, and a smile filled with peace and harmony upon his lips. She quickly turned around to face him and her breath stopped for a second as he brought up his sword for a low strike then raised it. The attack was blocked, and he forced her arm up, which she used to try strike back down, but her blade was caught in his gauntlet just as it descended. The contact between her blade and gauntlet caused a loud "CLANG" to ring throughout the hall, and ice began to form around his gauntlet and her blade.

Haiiden then kicked her back, which forced her to let go of her sword and to fall on her back. The ice on his gauntlet rapidly melted, and the blue flame on her sword disappeared as she lost contact with it. He took a deep breath while returning his sword to its sheath, and approached her with her sword in his hand. He then knelt next to her on the stage floor and reached out to grab her by the collar of her uniform, her own blade pressed against her supple throat. He opened his eyes, the peace and the beatific smile was gone from his face, only to be replaced by unbridled rage.

"I win! Have I proven myself yet?" He demanded of her sarcastically, and was furious at her attempt to take control of the team, to say nothing of her attempt to kill him. She smiled slyly at him and from the corner of his eye he noticed a push knife in her left hand. She went in for a desperate attack, his heart stopping for a second as it caught him off guard, and he barely moved out of the way; for a second he thought he felt something graze his cheek. She pulled back for another strike but this time he caught her hand and disarmed her.

Cecilia gritted her teeth as she was not going to accept a loss, then cried out and reached her free hand out to claw at his eyes as she spat in his face. As soon as she made contact with Haiiden, he felt a searing sensation shoot through his body. His eyes burned intensely as he saw something flash in his mind, images and what seemed like memories, but they weren't his; he felt a sense of desperation and loneliness.

Cecilia, for her part, screamed in agony.

Haiiden then got up and backed away with his hands covering his face, while Glynda was looking at Cecilia as she writhed on the ground and whimpered, as she also covered her face. Zed and Vaughn looked to each other in horror as they realized what had just happened, and held their breaths in anticipation. Haiiden was the first to recover his composure and moved his hands away, then looked towards Glynda. She was staring at him in shock, and she could plainly see that his eyes had turned a bright scarlet, while blood trickled down his right cheek.

"That's enough! This class is dismissed! Hurry and go to your other duties!" She demanded to the students, while waving her hand to signal them to go. The others was hesitant at first, but began to leave one by one, with more than a few glancing back in wonder as to what was going on. JNPR, Vaughn, and Zed all ran to the stage to help, with Vaughn helping Cecilia up to her feet while Zed went to check on Haiiden. JNPR stopped just short of the stairs, where they were stopped by Glynda, who began to advance towards them and forced them to leave.

"Go! Go!" she told them as she shooed them away with her riding crop, and pointed it towards the door. They looked back to the stage and made eye contact with Zed, who nodded towards them as they slowly departed, and glanced back one last time before leaving from the hall.

"Back to your dorm," she said to Team HAVC and signaled them to follow, Vaughn tried to pry Cecilia's hands from her eyes and for a moment he thought that he heard her crying to herself. Instead, he held her arm gently and guided her off stage as they began to follow Glynda. Zed quietly stood with his friend with his hand on his shoulder, and looked at him in the eyes as he watched them go back from their bright red color to the normal silver.

* * *

Once they had reached their dorm, Cecilia sat down on her bed with her arms wrapped around her body, and huddled to herself. One by one, they entered their room and just as Haiiden was about to enter, Glynda pulled him away and shut the door behind the others.

"Come with me," she said quietly, and did not wait for a reply as she quickly walked away. Haiiden hesitated and quietly opened the door to see that everyone was standing in front of Cecilia as she sat on her bed. Vaughn kept a hand over his mouth and looked at Zed, who kept his fists at his sides. Haiiden then quietly closed the door and followed Glynda as he knew exactly why she had told him to follow. He met with her right outside of Ozpin's office, and she offered a handkerchief to him right as he stopped in front of the door. Haiiden looked up, confused for a moment, and she replied by taking a finger and traced down her right cheek. He went to feel it by running two fingers down his face, and pulled away. He recognized the blood on it, but it was sticky and dark red as it had already begun to dry. He took the handkerchief and spat it into it then started to wipe away the blood from his cheek. After he was done he went to feel it but noticed there was no cut on it.

" _Where did the blood come from?_ " He wondered to himself.

He looked up as the door opened, and Glynda stepped in first, then waited right inside for Haiiden to enter. He emerged slowly into the room, and saw that Ozpin facing the windows, but they were tinted, then slowly became transparent as they let in the orange glow of sunlight as the day slowly descended into dusk. The walls that were not windowed, were full of kinetic clockwork sculptures, like his ceiling; even his desk, which was topped with glass, had moving clockwork parts inside the desktop. Ozpin then turned around and kept eye contact with Haiiden as he slowly sat down at his desk. He watched as both Glynda and Haiiden approached, with Haiiden stopping just a few feet away from his desk, while Glynda continued to walk around and stood behind Ozpin.

"Tell me Haiiden, what happened?" Ozpin asked him quietly. Haiiden shrugged and looked away as he tried thinking to himself for a moment to find the right words before shook his head as he looked back.

"You authorized a duel for leadership of my team."

"You disapprove?" Ozpin asked him while he stayed perfectly still, and kept his gaze on Haiiden.

"Of course!" Haiiden replied and scoffed at him as he wondered how Ozpin could possibly have thought differently. "I knew she was still angry at me, but this is taking it way too far. She tried to murder me! Twice! It was embarrassing!"

"How could it be 'embarrassing'? You won, didn't you?" Ozpin asked.

"Well yes, but this was something that could have been resolved in private, and peacefully," Haiiden protested.

Ozpin shook his head, pushed himself out of his seat, and proceeded to walk around his desk, then stopped right in front of Haiiden. Haiiden always felt uncomfortable when Ozpin did this, especially since they were roughly the same height, but he still felt smaller than the headmaster. They stood in silence in front of each other for a few moments until Ozpin's expression changed to that of concern.

"What did you see?" Ozpin asked him with his arms crossed, still looking down at him. Haiiden's breath quickened as he thought back to the images he had seen in his mind and shook his head since even he was still trying to make sense of it.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Haiiden said in a low voice.

"Your Semblance was activated, from what Glynda has explained to me, she saw a light come from under Cecilia's hand as she touched you," Ozpin said with a hint of concern.

"But she didn't touch me, she had gloves on her hands and," Haiiden trailed off as he tried to explain, but then remembered the blood on his cheek as well as there being no cut upon it. Ozpin nodded as he noticed that Haiiden's eyes were darting back and forth from this realization. Knowing in advance that this was the case from Glynda's explanation. He went back around to his seat then sat back down and waited for Haiiden to collect his thoughts. Haiiden took a deep breath and shook his head as he removed the leather glove from his right hand and proceeded to rub his eyes with it.

"Your mother's Semblance was similar, however, hers didn't require skin-on-skin contact." He said and swallowed uncomfortably, as this was a rather sensitive subject. Ozpin watched as Haiiden just stared into nothingness, he nodded his head in response, to signal that his mind was still in the conversation. "Unlike most people, your family's Semblance appears to be hereditary. A rare gift, indeed." Ozpin said.

He paused and took a deep breath, then continued. "Use what you saw and try to fix things with your team. We are living in dark times, Haiiden, and we cannot have you fighting against each other." He looked up at Ozpin as he replayed the words in his mind a few times and tried to figure out the best way to go about doing that. After a few moments had gone by, he nodded and turned to leave the room. As he walked out, his hands disappeared in front of him as they fell back to his sides. Before he stepped out, she did check her log again to look over the results of the battle, Cecilia's Aura levels had depleted, which might have explained the blood. As Haiiden left, Glynda glanced at him one final time, before she noticed that he had put the glove back on his right hand. She let out a long and drawn out sigh before tilting her head in Ozpin's direction as the door closed behind him.

"He still hates it," she told him quietly, as if she was worried that Haiiden would hear her.

"Whether he hates it or not, it is still his best quality. Let him use it and become compassionate to the suffering of others." Ozpin replied as he looked at the door. On the other side of it, Haiiden stood, listening.

"But I wonder..."

* * *

Haiiden peeked in to his team's dorm to see Cecilia still sitting on her bed, with Zed sitting across from her on his own bed as he stared at her angrily. Vaughn stood next to the window and watched Zed to make sure he didn't start anything with her. He was the first to notice Haiiden's return, and stood straight at attention, then saluted. Zed turned, and upon noticing him, he stood up as well and sighed, standing aside as Haiiden approached, and took up a spot on her bed as he sat in front of Cecilia. He looked down at her hand and noticed that her gloves had been removed, and had been replaced by a bandage that was wrapped around her hand.

"Hey, Cecilia." Haiiden said calmly and with as much tenderness he could muster. She slowly looked up from behind her hands and she seemed to have been crying for a while as her eyes were reddened and wet, and the bandage was slightly damp.

"I am sorry for leaving. I really am, and I will try my best to make it up to you." He told her as he leaned in to meet with her eyes and tried to force a smile. She stared silently for a moment before nodding in agreement, and slowly covered her face again. He stood up and began to pace the room, uncomfortably.

"But I also feel as though there is something else you are hiding, something else that makes you hate me," as he spoke, Cecilia looked up at him, and her eyes widened as she realized what he was asking of her. Haiiden didn't see this, however, as his view was obscured by Zed, who was standing in the way. Zed's eyes were narrowed at Vaughn, who responded by offering a hand to Haiiden.

"Sir, you know I have great respect for you." He said quietly while looking Haiiden in the eye and then back down to his hand. Haiiden returned the eye contact and looked down before sighing, then nodding his head in approval.

"I will tell you everything, so please sit. This is going to take a while."


	8. 1-2: The Children's Story

( **Ten years before the events of RWBY, Volume 1** )

Accompanied by two Knight-130s androids with their automatic weapons held at attention, an Atlesian Captain slowly approached state-run orphanage in the southern part of the Kingdom of Atlas, and with him were two eight-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. Both were shivering, and were wrapped in blankets to shield themselves from the brisk winter night. He stopped and knocked on the door, then looked down at the pair as he waited in silence. The boy was looking back up at him with uncertainty in his eyes, while the girl huddled protectively over her brother. The door slowly opened to reveal a woman who greeted them with a smile, and gasped as she realized who the Captain was. She then quickly opened the door wider for the Captain as well as the children, and hastily ushered them into another room. He turned back and crouched down so that he was at the same height as the two children.

"You'll be safe here, alright?" He told them with a smile in the hopes that it would get them to brighten up, but their only response was to hang their heads. The boy began to cry to himself silently while the sister slowly wrapped her blanket around his shoulder and tried to comfort him. The Captain's smile faded upon seeing this, and he looked away to spare himself from having to look at their crestfallen faces. When the receptionist had returned, she nodded her head then pulled him away for a few moments, but before he left, he turned back to the kids and waved a hand to signal for them to wait where they were.

The twins sat down on some chairs that were set up in a row next to the entrance of the orphanage's foyer. The sister hugged her little brother again and slowly petted him in an attempt to make him stop crying as he looked up at her with tears still rolling down his cheeks, then leaned into her embrace. Keeping him hidden in the blankets that she had wrapped him in, she looked up to see the Captain signing something on a Scroll, then a physical copy on a sheaf of paper pinned to a clipboard.

"Where did you find these two, sir?" the receptionist asked him as quietly as she could but was unaware that the sister could hear her.

"There were calls about two children hiding in the alleyways along Westvale Street in Mendak," he said quietly, still looking down as he finished writing down a few more signatures.

"At first they were ignored," he said as he flipped pages, scanning over the paperwork idly, "but after a few more calls came in over the next couple of days, I was sent in to investigate," he turned and looked back to the two kids, to see that the boy had fallen asleep in his sister's arms while she stared back at him. "I found them picking through some garbage cans, looking for food."

As he spoke, another man entered the room from a different doorway, and the Captain stood and saluted. The other man, whom the children would later learn was a Major, saluted back, then offered his hand to the Captain.

"Davros," he said, his arm outstretched.

"Ironwood," said the Captain as he reached out to shake Davros's hand.

"Sir. I brought you two new ones." Ironwood said as he stood straight, turning his head to look at the two children, and saw that the girl staring back at them. The man slowly approached, towering over them, but the girl instead clutched her brother close to her, and narrowed her eyes defensively at the stranger, this Major Davros.

"This one seems ready to fight, and that can either work for her, or against her," he said with a grin before turning back around to walk back to the receptionist's desk.

"They have been through enough, sir. I humbly ask that you please go easy on them," Ironwood replied with his hands behind his back, and still standing straight, but had his eyes narrowed at the man.

"You know what kind of place this is, Ironwood. We do not coddle the children, and we certainly do not play favorites," he responded and attempted to look down upon Captain Ironwood. After a few moments of silence, Ironwood nodded, then turned to leave the institution, and just as he was about to open the door, he stopped to look back at the children, then squatted beside them.

"Everything will be fine. I promise."

* * *

( **Present Day** )

"We didn't know what happened. Maybe it was something that we did, or perhaps our parents just couldn't take care of us anymore. All we know is that they left us in some alley, and Ironwood, now 'General' Ironwood, found us and brought us to one of the many orphanages in southern Atlas, outside the city of Mendak," Vaughn explained to Haiiden and Zed while Cecilia still sat silently and stared down at her bandaged hand with an almost glazed expression, as if she was lost in her memories as she examined the faint patch of red upon her bandaged palm.

Zed was leaning against the wall next to Haiiden's bed with his arms crossed in front of him, and nodded as Vaughn paused in recounting of the twins' story. Haiiden was leaning forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees and stared into nothingness, with his eyes narrowed as he tried to visualize the people and places that Vaughn described, and found that many of them matched some of the images in his mind that were infused into him when his Semblance was activated.

"Interesting that a man like Ironwood would even take the time to help children, let alone escort them to an orphanage," he said with a bit of bitterness in his voice, which made Vaughn slightly confused and tilted his head at the comment.

"It wasn't what you would ordinarily consider an orphanage, sir; the rules governing these kinds of institutions in Atlas are– they're different than the ones here in Vale," Vaughn continued bitterly, but Haiiden looked up with a curious look at him, which had replaced his angry expression.

"Different? How?" Haiiden asked him as he shifted in position and turned his body to face the twin.

"As you may well know, the Atlesian military is the largest and strongest in all of Remnant. However, they didn't get that way strictly through volunteerism, especially after the Faunus War, where many children were left orphaned." Zed froze in place and held his breath as he looked to Vaughn inquisitively.

"Currently, only fifty percent of the Altasian military are volunteers. Another 20 or 25 percent of them are conscripts. As for the remaining members, well, let's just say that the state has control of all the orphanages in Atlas, and they think of it as a 'long term investment'. If the kids don't get adopted by a family before they reach the age of twelve, the appropriate age, they are automatically drafted into the military of Atlas," Vaughn sighed to himself and blinked before a sarcastic smirk appeared on his face.

"Well, I am sure you can guess what happened next."

* * *

( **Seven years and five months earlier** )

"Quick! Come see this!" exclaimed one girl to her friend who was sitting down and playing with her dolls in one of the girls' sleeping chambers. She quickly looked back then hid them between her mattress and bed frame then ran to join her companion, who was waiting for her at the top of the staircase. They both ran down quickly to see that other children were running in the general direction of the building's gymnasium. Upon reaching its entrance, they were blocked by a group of children and young tweens; the two began to push their way through the throng of murmuring and screaming orphans. They continued to press against the crowd, until they finally reached the center, where everyone was gathered in a large circle around another, small group of kids.

"Another fight?" one asked the other, but sounds of cheering and as well as angry remarks almost drowned out her question. The other girl just shrugged and watched what was going on in the middle of the gathering; from where she was standing, she could see that in the middle of the floor was a young boy who was holding his stomach and lying on his side, while two tweens were holding a girl by her arms as an older tween named Rickard was hitting her. One jab to her stomach, then another to her cheek and one blow after another, but she kept forcing herself up with her head held high.

"Come on Cecil, we were just having a bit of fun with your brother," Rickard said with a laugh as his buddies sneered at the remark, and tightened their grip on Cecilia's arms. Rickard then went in for another jab to her stomach, which made her reel forward with a grunt, but she forced herself up and continued to look up at her aggressor with defiance. The boy just smirked at her and turned to face Vaughn, who was still on the floor, clutching at his stomach.

"Seriously Vaughn, your sister can't always come to your rescue every time we do this," he laughed down at him and then turned back to Cecilia while still smirking.

"Tell me, Cecil: how does it feel to always be mistaken for a boy?" he asked with another laugh, which was then joined by half of the other kids who were watching. Due to the dress code, most of the girls in the home had to cut their hair, but it wasn't too short, and only went just past their ears. She continued to look down at Rickard with a slight grin of her own.

"I don't know. You tell me," she responded acidly, at which point the room then filled with laughter at the insult. The smirk slowly disappeared from his face as he looked around at the crowd, then gritted his teeth angrily and moved in for another punch to her stomach, at which she slumped as the two boys held her up. After she got up again, he went in for another strike, this time aimed for her cheek, but she managed to lean back and narrowly dodged it. She jumped up, using her pinned arms as leverage, then with both feet she kicked him away, and as she landed she brought both feet crashing down on the ankle of one of the boys, who was holding her right arm.

A loud snap could be heard as her foot inflicted a compound fracture of his ankle, the bone protruding through his skin, and blood seeping through the tent the bone made in his pant leg, which made the boy, Stephan, shriek in pain, then, as he had loosened his grip upon her arm in his surprise, she brought her elbow up to ram it on the bridge of his nose, breaking it as well. He lost his grip on her arm completely and she shook it free, then shoved him away; then the boy still holding her other arm, named Topher, tugged at her, at which point Cecilia rammed her fist on to the bridge of his nose, shattering it as well, which forced him let go of her. As Topher staggered away while clutching at his face, she stepped forward and placed her foot behind his leg, then grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him forward so that he tripped over it, crashing to the ground, then rolled on his side, clutching his wrist in pain.

Had these children been taught to spread their Auras, none of these injuries would have happened, as the field the Aura created would have protected them, but Cecilia was a one woman wrecking ball, and the boys had gone much too far in their bullying of her brother today, and she was determined to teach them a very painful, and very permanent lesson.

As she gloated, Cecilia was caught off guard and forced in to a spin as a hit connected to her left cheek from the bigger boy. As she regained her footing, she noticed Stephan had gotten shakily to his feet, despite his broken ankle and, hopping on one leg, he then jumped on to Cecilia's back. She could feel warm blood spattering the back of her neck as she tried to shake him off, but he got a firm hold around her neck, so she decided to jump back and fall down on her enemy. The bodies slammed to the floor with a loud "thud", which rang throughout gymnasium, and the wind was knocked out of her enemy, and the loud snap she heard as he slammed into the ground. She then brought her elbow down upon his already broken nose, spraying blood everywhere, and left him an unconscious heap as she got to her feet.

Once she was standing again, Topher ran up to throw a right hook, but she caught him by the wrist and spun her body into his, whipping her head back on to his brow, splitting open his scalp. As he reeled back, Cecilia then spun again, this time underneath his right arm and twisted it to keep him braced in his current position, which obviously dislocated his shoulder, and he howled in pain. She kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over and knocking the wind out of him, then as soon as her foot landed on the floor, she brought her other knee up to his already bloody brow. She let go of his arm, then grabbed hold of his hair and pulled him back over her knee, bringing her elbow down on to his neck, then using her other hand to grab his shirt, she flipped him over and brought her knee up to the back of his neck. The collected children winced and chattered amongst themselves at this excruciating display of violence against Stephan and Topher. Some turned away for a moment.

She pulled Topher back up and pushed him towards Rickard, watching as he caught his comrade in his arms, and the body was limp as he was barely conscious. Letting Topher fall to the floor, Cecilia's aggressor looked up to see her running towards him, and was too late to act as she attempted to tackle him to the ground. She pushed him back as she wrapped her arms around his torso and tried to lift him up and off the ground, but every time his feet left the floor he would then twist in her arms, allowing him to plant his feet back down on the floor as she lost her grip on him. When he finally was able to get a firm footing on the polished hardwood, he brought his elbow down on to Cecilia's spine, which forced her to fall onto one knee. He then leaned forward over her to try and wrap his arms around her waist but Cecilia jumped back up and whipped her head up in to his.

He reeled back from the blow, and she went in for a right hook to follow it up, but he slapped it away and slammed both of his palms against her ears. She staggered back as her eyesight blurred, and she was disoriented. She was forced back even more as he struck her in the face with his closed fist, and then a jab to her diaphragm. She had the wind knocked out of her for a moment, then desperately gasped for breath; she instinctively brought her arms up to cover the sides of her head while keeping a low profile, then twisted her body to block every incoming hit, and doubled over in anticipation of a body blow. He tried to go for another hit to her face, but was blocked again; out of frustration, he tried to grab Cecilia by the hair.

She surprised him by grabbing his wrist, then spun towards his body and struck him in the face with her elbow. She spun around and then slammed her other elbow into his stomach, and then kicked her foot into his knee, which made him collapse against her as he cried out in pain. She spun to her right, gaining enough energy to kick his other foot, which caused him to lose his balance completely, and forced him into the air. Finally, with her free hand she grasped Rickard by the throat and slammed him down on to his back, splitting his scalp; blood began to pool under his head as he lay motionless. The crowd of children gasped as they watched in horror, and others shouted rude comments while a few more cheered. Cecilia smiled at her victory but it was short lived as she turned around to see her brother slowly getting back up on his knees.

"Vaughn!" she shouted and tried to run to help him but was stopped when someone grabbed her by the arm. Her instincts kicked in and she turned to meet the new threat with a raised fist, but stopped immediately as she stared in fear when she realized who it was.

"That is enough!" yelled the man who was in charge of the orphanage, Major Davros.

* * *

( **Present Day** )

"So they take care of you, and in return they train you to fight for the Atlesian military?" Zed asked with his eyes widened in understanding, then shook his head in disbelief and wiped his nose with his thumb.

"Yeah, unless you were lucky enough to be adopted before the age of twelve, but people want cute little kids. Not tweens trained in hand-to-hand combat, and kids who get bruises on a daily basis," Vaughn pointed out while standing with his hands behind his back.

"The Major who was in charge of the orphanage would say that there was no favoritism under his command, however everyone knew that this was a lie. He would choose those whom he believed to be the best candidates for any experimental military programs, or any well-known military families. He had it in for my sister, and to this day we have no idea why. He would often try to break her, but she always held strong, which made her have to fight that much harder for us both, and this made life even more difficult for us."

Zed nodded slowly, then frowned as he empathized with the twins, while Haiiden also had a sullen look about him; he remembered the training he was given by Ozpin and Glynda as well as the other teachers in the academy as he grew up. However, the difference here was that he was nurtured by people who cared, while Vaughn and Cecilia only had one another to depend on.

* * *

( **Seven years and five months earlier** )

"Stephan Merlot. Broken nose, two cracked ribs, concussion, and a compound fracture of the tibia, twelve stitches. Rickard Adams. Fractured skull, swelling of the cerebral cortex, concussion, seventeen stitches. And your masterpiece, Topher Greene. Broken wrist, broken nose, dislocated shoulder, concussion, twenty-nine stitches, and the piece de resistance, a fracture of the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. Doctor Maynard says he's going to be in a motorized wheelchair and at least partially paralyzed from the neck down for at least a year, if not forever." Major Davros read from a clipboard as he pushed Cecilia along in front of him by the collar of her shirt as they approached his office.

"Wait! What about Vaughn?" Cecilia cried out as she turned around to face the Major after being bodily thrown into his office.

"Who cares? And don't worry about him! You should worry about yourself right now!" he growled at her, and stomped past, then swung around his desk and sat down. He took a pen and began to scribble onto a form while gritting his teeth.

"Worry about myself? I'm fine! It's my brother who is in the medical ward because of those bastards!" she exclaimed with a stomp of her foot and balled her tiny hands into fists. The Major noticed this aggressive posture then pushed himself out of his seat, then approached Cecilia and slapped her hard across the face with the palm of his hand. She looked back after turning her head to face him, her hand covering her cheek with a shocked expression on her face before raising her chin in defiance.

"Because of you, three of our best are in the ward as well! Two of them may not even recover!" He retorted while still looking down at her, and his hands were formed in to fists as well as he raised his visage to glare at her. She shook her head as he spoke, and smiled back at him.

" _Those_ were your best? I took them out _easily_ ," she said as she stepped forward him with a hint of cockiness in the step. His eyes widened and his knuckles whitened as he tightened his fists.

"They were our top candidates to send over to the military families. Of course, you won't know what that would mean, since no one would want to take in an arrogant, recalcitrant little punk like YOU," he spat with a smirk. "I groom soldiers for the military, and what do I have to show for it? Three of my best candidates are in the ward, as well as one failure, and it's all because of one headstrong quim," he turned back to walk around his desk, and sat down quietly with his hand over his eyes, rubbing them with his index finger and thumb. After a moment, he picked his pen back up again and began to scribble on some paper forms again."It's almost that time of year again. During the next few months, military families will come from all over the country to this institution, in the hopes that they will take a good child," Cecilia shifted in her position and swallowed at the thought, and wished that she and her brother could be taken, or at least that Vaughn would.

"Don't worry, no one will take you or your brother. Nobody wants a weakling, nor a girl who doesn't follow orders," he said as if he saw her nervousness, or perhaps he was just being cruel.

"Vaughn is not weak! He was just outnumbered!" she cried out at him and gritted her teeth. He ignored her as his Scroll pinged, and noticed that he had just received a message; he looked down for a moment to read what it had to say.

"Come, we are going to check on the three you've landedin the ward; we can also check on your brother if we have enough time."

With the Major accompanying her, Cecilia slowly peeked in to the medical ward of the orphanage, and scanned the room hoping to spot her brother. At first she couldn't see him, so she stepped in slowly and began to walk past the rows of beds. A nurse touched her on the shoulder and slowly guided her to Vaughn's bed, and she saw that he had a black blindfold over his eyes, and she gritted her teeth to keep herself from crying as she slowly took his hand, but there was no response.

"What's wrong with him?" she demanded in a raised voice, but the nurse only hushed her and pulled her away from her brother when she attempted to remove the cloth from his eyes.

"Sis?" Vaughn quietly asked with a quiver in his voice as he woke up and began to reach out for her. Cecilia tried not to make any sound that would indicate concern, but couldn't help but breathe in quickly as she reached out to hold her brother's hand.

"Sis, I'm sorry. I did my best against the two of them but then Rickard came in and blindsided me," he explained while holding her hand, but didn't turn to face her.

The nurse took the opportunity to speak up as she consulted his chart. "The injuries he had received have damaged his eyes; he has detached retinas, and damage to his optic nerves. He was complaining of blurry vision as well as black spots while we treated him, so we brought in Doctor Maynard to check up on him," she turned to the Major and showed him a couple graphs on her Scroll, showing films of his skull with a fracture on one side as well as a graph of his brain.

"This is a serious situation that will take some time to fix, and although we might not be able to fully mend his sight, we can at least save him from going blind," the nurse explained to the Major while he looked down to see that Cecilia let out a sigh of relief. "A private hospital would be able to cure him, but with our resources, we can only do so much."

* * *

( **Seven years and three months ago** )

Over the next couple of months, the doors to the orphanage had been opened to families, as well as military recruiters to enter the institution.

"Remember, I want you on your best behavior when they arrive," she remembered Major Davros telling her with a hushed voice, which was mixed with a growl. She stood straight beside her brother, who had finally been released from the ward, but had to squint just to be able to see properly. Doctor Maynard had requested glasses for him, but as a Doctor contracted by the military, he still had to follow orders, especially when the Major had denied the request. He then asked to stay and keep a close eye on the boy, in case complications were to arise, which the Major reluctantly granted, but only after the Doctor added that it would give him an opportunity to personally oversee Topher Greene's physical therapy and rehabilitation. The rows of children stood straight and greeted the visitors with a salute, with the tallest standing in the back while the shorter ones stood in front.

Cecilia stood with a growing feeling in her chest, like what she imagined it felt like to ride a roller coaster, while she watched anxiously as each family approached and walked past her and Vaughn. She felt almost defeated when the last of the families left, but still felt happy for those who were taken, as they were the lucky ones. However, this was only the start on this particular day, as an inspecting officer came to check on the Major's progress, since it was also that time of year where the "draftees" who had come of age would be taken by the military. Finally, it was also a chance to check on the children's training, as he visited each institution. They rounded up all the older children from the orphanage, and set them up in the gymnasium, with the inspecting officer, a Captain, sitting on a chair to the side; he watched as the children were gathered at the center. Cecilia turned to notice another man was accompanied by another officer, and saw that he didn't wear grey like the inspector or the Major, but instead wore blue. Her mind snapped back to the Major as he whistled and watched as he approached the center of the gym, then stood before everyone.

"Ok privates, you know what time of year it is, and you know that I will be your worst enemy for the next few days!" he yelled out to the crowd while keeping his hands behind his back. He then began to pace back and forth as he quickly scanned the children's faces as he passed them by.

"You will do exactly as I say! Remember: you are soldiers! You follow orders! You know what that means? You are dogs!" he yelled out again but this time with a smirk. "Do you understand?"

"Sir yes sir!" The children exclaimed in unison and clicked their heels together as they stood straight and at attention.

"Good!" He then pulled his hand from behind his back and raised it in the air to reveal a piece of metal in his hand.

"I am also feeling especially generous today, so when one of you dogs does something right, you will get a nice reward!" He then pressed his thumb against the metal to make a clicking sound that made Vaughn's head shoot up. The Major noticed this, however, and smirked at him as he stepped forward to point at Vaughn.

"I see someone already likes it!" He yelled out, then motioned for him to step forward; Vaughn swallowed nervously as he walked out of formation. The Major then turned his head to motion for another to step forward, and it was Stephan, one of the tweens who had beaten him up a couple months before, the lackey of Rickard's who hadn't ended up in a motorized wheelchair, that is. As he stepped forward, he had a smirk on his face while looking down at Vaughn, and with his hands on his sides.

"Let's make this a little more exciting though, shall we?" he then motioned for Rickard to come up as well as Cecilia, and as they approached, some of the staff handed a wooden rod to each child. Vaughn and Cecilia stood side by side while holding their weapons and watched as the older tween approached to the center and stood beside his comrade.

"Sir, I advise you to let Vaughn sit this one out, as he still hasn't fully recovered," Doctor Maynard whispered to the Major while he input something into his Scroll. The Major was smiling as the kids stood ready, and rolled his eyes at the Doctor's request. Watching with a grin as each contestant stood in front of him with their weapons ready to attack, then whistled to signal the start of the match.

The two boys rushed in on the twins, so Cecilia decided to fight head-on and likewise rushed in, while Vaughn hesitated at first, but then proceeded to back her up. Cecilia swung, and it connected with her opponents' rods, Rickard pushed her away and countered with a swing, which she parried. As she deflected the attack, she spun and swung low for her Stephan's legs, but missed as he jumped over her rod, and ran towards Vaughn. Vaughn braced himself by holding his rod with one hand on each end as his opponent wound up for a strike and swung at him heavily. The gym rang as the wooden rods clashed together, and the force of the attack made Vaughn stagger to his right. As he tried to regain his footing, he heard his opponent's rod cut through air, ducking just as it passed over Vaughn's head, bringing up his rod and ramming the end of it in to his Stephan's stomach.

"Good!" The inspector called out and clicked on the metal piece again, which then made Vaughn pause for a moment as he saw that his vision was clear again. During his distraction, Stephan regained his breath and struck Vaughn in the back of the head, which forced him down on to his knees as Doctor Maynard winced and shook his head. Stephan then kicked him in the ribs, which forced him to fall on to his back while the older child stood over him.

"Sir, I can't stress this enough: if you let this continue there is a chance that Vaughn may go blind!" Doctor Maynard exclaimed, and upon hearing this, Cecilia turned away from Rickard to see that her brother was on the floor, but was slowly picking himself up. He blinked a few times as his sight slowly became dark but somehow was still able to see.

* * *

( **Present Day** )

"Oh yeah, so that's when you first discovered your Semblance, huh?" Zed asked with a grin that was similar to the one he had when he saw Vaughn fight against Sky. Haiiden couldn't help but show off a similar grin and looked back up at Vaughn.

"Echolocation. We still don't know much about Semblances, but mine was later discovered to be one of the passive ones; it's always on, in other words. I often wonder how long it would have taken me to discover my Semblance if my eyesight hadn't gone bad." As he spoke, Vaughn brought his hand up to his face and on his glove were two pieces of metal, one on the index finger and another on the thumb. He snapped them together and a loud "CLICK" could be heard throughout the room.

* * *

( **Seven years and three months ago** )

Vaughn slowly got up, but was frozen as he was still confused as to what he was seeing, everything seemed dark, yet he still saw everything with crisp detail. Cecilia smiled as he got up but it quickly disappeared as she noticed his glazed stare. Just as she was about to run over to help, Rickard got back up and swung his rod, ramming it behind her knee. The Major clicked again and Vaughn saw a wave resonate in his vision, watching it pass by objects and mapping the room around him. He then fell to the floor again thanks to another hit to his head, but this time his vision remained unaffected, and still saw the wave echo across the room with a ringing in his mind. Rickard then took his rod and placed it over Cecilia's neck then began to pull her up to hold her in place, so she could watch helplessly as Stephan took him apart. Stephan ignored Vaughn for now, then proceeded to approach Cecilia, and jammed the end of his rod into her stomach.

"As usual Cecil, you're on your own, no thanks to your pathetic brother," she tried to regain her breath, and kept her eyes narrowed at him, but Rickard blinked, and then looked past Stephan. Vaughn took a deep breath and stood up; as the ringing began to subside, he used whatever he was able to see and turned toward his sister.

"I see this mutt still has some fight in him," Major Davros exclaimed, and shrugged as he clicked again, while Vaughn watched as another wave mapped the room around him. Snapping his attention back to the Stephan, who had just finished winding back and swung down at Vaughn; the boy countered by bringing up his rod with both hands. As the rods connected, Vaughn guided the attack, and moved Stephan's rod out of the way before stepping forward to butt the end of his rod into Stephan's stomach. Enraged, Rickard pushed Cecilia away and moved to help his comrade, but Cecilia stepped forward as well to swing under the Stephan's legs. He complemented his sister's attack by swinging his rod down; the strike brought Stephan crashing to the floor, and Cecilia turned to counter Rickard by blocking his desperate strike. It left him wide open, she brought her rod up to his face and jammed the end of it into his right eye socket as hard as she could, eliciting a shriek from him as he dropped his rod and covered his face, protectively. Vaughn, for his part, jumped in and cracked his rod against the back of Rickard's neck as hard as he could, breaking it in two, which sent the tween sprawling to the floor, unconscious.

With both opponents down, Cecilia smiled at her little brother, who was now looking around him with a blank expression and noticed his breath quickening. She reached out to grab at him, and was pulled away by the Major.

"That's enough," he said with a growl, and signaled the end of the match. "Pathetic."

"Major," they both heard and turned to face the officer in blue, who was now standing and looking down at him. "Let go of the child."

"Yes, sir." The Major's eyes widened as he looked back between Cecilia and his superior, and slowly let go of her arm. She quickly turned to run back to Vaughn and held him by both arms while he tried to move them up to hold her as well.

"Sis, I can't see!" she swallowed, and shifted in position as she turned to Doctor Maynard, who had already ordered stretchers for the fighters. They quickly put the two tweens onto theirs first, with Rickard, who had regained consciousness, groaning as he held his hand over his ruined eye, with blood trickling from between his fingers. Then they helped guide Vaughn on to his stretcher, while another nurse offered to take Cecilia as well, but she refused and watched as they pulled her brother away. As they exited the gymnasium, she noticed the officer in blue as he watched them cart her brother off, and turned back to make eye contact with Cecilia before walking away.

* * *

Vaughn sat silently as he heard the groans of the two tweens as they were being treated, as well as whispers. He tried to guess as to what they were talking about, but it was apparent that they were talking about him, since he could clearly hear his name being mentioned several times. The calm was then broken as someone barged in to the ward and stomped up to Vaughn's bed, and he listened as the footfalls came closer, before stopping right in front him. Vaughn could hear heavy breathing as if someone was trying to keep their anger bottled up, which was then drowned out by another set of footfalls, but this time, they sounded a little more urgent.

"Sir, I beg of you, let me treat him now! If we don't, his condition will become permanent!" The voice belonged to Doctor Maynard, Vaughn was certain.

"Oh you may treat him, just not right now. Let that be his punishment," he heard the all-too-familiar voice of the Major.

"Punishment?" Vaughn heard as he noticed a third voice enter into the conversation, but this one he did not recognize.

"Pray tell, Major Davros, what has he done that was so terrible as to deserve this 'punishment?'" There was no response, but instead Vaughn heard feet shuffling nervously, which he thought was weird since he had never heard it so clearly before.

"Doctor, belay the Major's order and do what you must; but YOU Major, meet with me in your office IMMEDIATELY."

"Y-yes, sir," Major Davros's voice sounded cowed.

Cecilia sat in her bed that night, as she waited for Vaughn to return from the ward. Watching as some of the younger kids were playing with their toys that they kept hidden, while some of the oldertweens began to pack up, since they were being conscripted into the military. There were many kids in the orphanage, and other than the assemblies such as the one she had just been a part of, the most she had seen at one time was roughly fifty, although it was rumored that the institution housed over three hundred in the various wings. It was sheer luck that any of them were ever taken by a family. She sat and huddled close to herself at the thought, while keeping her arms wrapped around her legs. There was a knock on the door, which she ignored, but then heard someone call out her name. Turning her head to see that it was the receptionist motioning for her to follow. As she approached, she noticed a big smile on her face as she guided Cecilia to the Major's office. She hesitated at first but as she entered, she raised her brow to not see the Major sitting at the desk, but inspecting Captain, as well the officer in blue, both of whom stood in front of the desk.

"Cecilia?" the man in blue asked with a soft voice that seemed to lull her in to a sense of comfort and she slowly approached the voice. She quickly looked back at the Captain, who at first was looking down at her, then smiled softly.

"I take it you don't know who this is, huh?" the Captain asked her, while motioning a hand towards the other man. She quickly looked him up and down then crossed her arms.

"Should I know?" she responded, while trying to wear a mask of confidence. The man chuckled and looked back to the Captain, who replied with a raised brow and a smile.

"What a strong child," The officer in blue said to himself as he looked back down at Cecilia then leaned forward to match her height. "I am Colonel Anatoliy Sceryei."

Cecilia continued to stare, as she didn't know what the point of this conversation was.

The Captain smiled again. "He has requested to take you and your brother to become part of his family."

* * *

( **Present Day** )

Cecilia hid her face in her hands again, to which Vaughn quickly responded by putting a hand on her shoulder. Haiiden and Zed watched with frozen expressions as they fully assimilated the brutality of the orphanage that the two had been raised in. Haiiden then pondered to himself as to what he had witnessed when Cecilia touched him, and how Vaughn's story seemed to conflate with the images he had seen.

"I don't want to continue this story anymore," She said quietly while wiping away a tear from her eye; then Zed proceeded to push himself away from the wall that he was leaning on.

"Come on, then. Let Vaughn continue the story with Haiiden. We can go get something to eat in the meantime." He approached Cecilia and offered a hand to her, she looked at it for a few seconds and pushed herself off the bed. Zed just tilted his head and shrugged at her then proceeded to walk out of the dorm, with Cecilia following behind him.

* * *

( **Seven years and two and a half months ago** )

Vaughn tried to hide his feelings, a mixture of fear and excitement, as he sat as quietly and calmly as he could; little by little, Doctor Cera unraveled the bandages from his eyes.

"Is it off yet?" Vaughn asked calmly, prepared for the worst if the treatment didn't work. Through delicate nano-surgery at a private hospital, Vaughn's retinas had been fully reattached, and the nanites had at least partially repaired the damage to his optic nerve. It was a procedure that had cost the Colonel a small fortune, but he had managed to convince the Atlesian military to at least subsidize the medical care Vaughn was receiving.

"The bandage is still on, Vaughn, don't worry," the Doctor said with a chuckle as he continued to unroll the gauze, and Vaughn could see more and more light as each layer was removed. As they pulled of the last of the bandage, Vaughn squinted as the natural light beamed against his face.

"It's still blurry," He said with disappointment, and as he looked around the room, the Doctor stepped aside and pulled out a pair of glasses, then proceeded to gently place them over his eyes. As the image became completely clear, he saw Colonel Sceryei, his new father, standing in front of his bed with his arms crossed and looking down at him with a lopsided smile. He then turned his head to see that Cecilia was sitting next to him and beamed when she saw that her brother recognized her.

"This is the best that I can do to help you, Vaughn. I'm sorry." Doctor Cera said to him with his Scroll in hand, while looking down with a disappointed expression.

"It's alright Doctor, you did your best and we know there's only so much medical science can do in these cases," Colonel Sceryei responded.

Thank you Doctor," Vaughn looked up then began to sway a little as the glasses made him a little dizzy.

"You'll get used to it in time. Doctor Maynard did a very good job of repairing what he could and caring for you, despite the quality of care available to you in the orphanage," Doctor Cera smiled and looked to Colonel Sceryei for confirmation, who responded with a nod, and the Doctor left the room. As he was leaving, Vaughn quietly watched and as he left through the doorway, he looked back at the nightstand next to him to see that The Doctor had left behind the bandage. He stared at it for a bit and quietly picked it up in his hand, then proceeded to remove his glasses. He stared down at the cloth for a bit before slowly putting it over his eyes and looked around, noticing small waves as sounds echoed, from birds chirping, to Doctor Cera's distant steps.

"You have an interesting ability, Vaughn, something that can be refined and used to your advantage. Blinded, yet never truly blind." He said with a smirk on his face as he thought of the possibilities, but it slowly disappeared as he noticed Cecilia looking up at him. "You are safe with me, I promise."

"S-Someone s-said t-that to us once," she said with a stutter and narrowed her eyes, but not at him, as she stared off into empty space, she thought of Captain Ironwood.

"I'm sorry," he said to her as he crouched in front of her, her eyes widening as she swallowed nervously, but stood straighter in an attempt to hide it.

"I won't leave you like your parents, and I won't treat you like dogs like the military. I will do my best to protect you, we are a team now, a family, and I will stick with you until the end."

* * *

( **Present Day** )

"With that promise, everything seemed to be alright, and for the first time in years I saw my sister smile. Not a smile that expressed cockiness or sarcasm, but a genuine smile of happiness; with that promise, I decided to make one of my own. I promised my sister that I would become a better fighter, and if I ever made a mistake, I gave her permission to smack me around until I had learned my lesson, since it was because of my weakness that she'd had to suffer, and was forced to fight for us both."

Haiiden smiled to himself as he remembered the first time he met the twins, and how she hit Vaughn after he had mistakenly pointed a gun at her; but it only lasted for so long as it faded slowly.

"We often asked the Colonel why he had adopted us, and he would always change the subject, or otherwise dodge the question. Eventually, he gave us a simple answer: he had been fighting all his life, and had never married. As it turned out, Colonel Sceryei was a former Huntsman who then went and joined the military; they allowed him special dispensation due to his Huntsman background, gave him autonomous control of his activities, and his choice of missions. He wanted to leave behind a legacy, through us, as he really had nothing else to offer but his skills. Not surprisingly, my sister and I liked the arrangement, since it was like we were a family. I mean, hell, we were a family! He had adopted us, after all.

He then began to train us over the next few years, and in the meantime, we also discovered Cecilia's Semblance: her ability to manipulate moisture anywhere, even in the air, as you well know from your unfortunate match with her today; she would commonly use ice to trap her enemies. The cold, blue flame emanating from her sword is the physical manifestation of her Aura, as well as her Semblance.

We would often do mock-up missions, while making up strategies as well as call signs, and other times we would actually go out into the field for practice. We would fight the Grimm, which in reality, was just an old habit from the Colonel's old Huntsman days. We hadn't forgotten about Doctor Maynard, however, and we would often visit him when Colonel Sceryei would be called out on a mission. Turns out Doctor Maynard had been working on a side project and was eventually hired by Colonel Ironwood for experiments pertaining to Aura.

When we turned sixteen, he thought we were ready for our first real mission, and explained that the military had requested a team to be sent in as a vanguard against the White Fang that had taken up a base outside of the Kingdoms, in the ruins of Mantle. As much as Colonel Sceryei hated to have anything to do with the current Human/Faunus conflict, he was unable to refuse, as they considered the group terrorists, rather than a movement."

* * *

( **One year and nine months ago** )

After being dropped off by a Bullhead, Colonel Sceryei looked down at his wrist to see a holographic projection of the area surrounding them. He then turned to Cecilia and Vaughn for confirmation, both of whom responded with a silent nod. He raised his hand to his ear and with two fingers he pressed a button on his comm.

"This is Grey Six. Team Grey is ready to proceed to the objective. Over," he said in to the earpiece, which finished with a crackle before someone else responded on the channel.

"Roger that. Scimitar will be following behind you shortly. Over."

"Remember, Scimitar: this is MY mission, so you follow MY orders. If you can help it, try to spare as many as you can. Over."

"This is Scimitar Six. Roger that, Grey Six. I will inform Team Scimitar that you request harsh trigger discipline. Out." The comm then went out with a final crackle of static as they all went radio silent.

After reaching the White Fang compound and dispatching most of their forces on the surface with non-lethal takedowns, they proceeded inside, and located tunnels which were pointed out in the building schematics that they had reviewed during their mission briefing. Colonel Sceryei- Grey Six- then cut the power, and the entire building went dark as they proceeded into the tunnels with night vision goggles, with the exception of Vaughn, who relied on his Semblance for his sight in the dark. They continued slowly, with Vaughn's rifle raised in hand, and Cecilia's claymore in hers, moving slowly through the darkness so as not to make noise, but their footsteps still echoed softly through the tunnels. Then suddenly, flashes could be seen illuminating the caverns as gunfire was rained upon them from further down the shaft. They reacted quickly and took cover behind sandbags set up in staggered but regular intervals along the way. Colonel Sceryei then exhaled through his nose out of frustration and turned to Vaughn.

"Do your magic, son."

Vaughn closed his eyes and snapped his fingers, the rough metal pads on the tips of his gloves making a clicking sound, and watched it echo in his mind. The echo exposed doorways that presumably led to rooms along the sides of the tunnel, as well as a group of White Fang soldiers kneeling behind sandbags in the far distance.

"I count ten hunkered down, sir. About two-hundred yards," he said while keeping his eyes closed. Cecilia cautiously looked out of her hiding spot, and down the tunnel, but couldn't see anyone.

"How well do these work down here?" she asked, referring to her night vision goggles.

"Well, assuming it's similar to the Faunus's night vision, in passive monochromatic, we can only see so much as long as there is light. Since we are underground with the power cut off, I doubt there will be any kind of light, and since it is dark out, there won't be much natural light, either." He peeked over his cover to try bait them but was disappointed as none of them shot at him.

"As good as the Faunus' night vision is, it still has its limitations, but we have an advantage," he said. "Switch from passive monochrome to active infrared imaging."

Cecilia twisted a knob on the side of her goggles by two positions. "Short-Wave Active Infrared Imaging activated, sir. I see- uh, I see a thermal bloom at extreme range, but I can't make them out in detail. They must be just outside the effective range of the active infrared."

He nodded towards Vaughn as the Colonel did the same. Vaughn nodded back, and leaned out from behind cover and began to fire back at the soldiers. Taking out three in the initial burst, hitting each of them in their shoulders; he could see as they fell and writhed in pain as the sound of the gunshots continued to ring throughout the tunnels. Cecilia then stood and swung her sword, forming a wall of ice fifty yards ahead of them, then, at the Colonel's order, all three rushed in to take cover. As they reached another set of sandbags, more gunshots could be heard as the soldiers opened fire on the wall. Each hit weakened it, before the wall shattered, but turned to water in midair and harmlessly rained down on them.

"Careful when you use it now," the Colonel said. "I fear that if you still don't know how to direct your power, you could end up encasing us," Colonel Sceryei said to Cecilia, who responded with a nod and frowned.

"Good job though. At least we got close enough to see them now on active infrared."

"Which means they might be able to see us, too," Vaughn pointed out to him, then clicked his finger pads again to get another view of his surroundings; he noticed a set of rooms on the sides that extended out behind the soldiers. He then pointed to the door with his finger, to which Cecilia and Sceryei both nodded, and Vaughn got up to unleash some cover fire. Even in the darkness, and at extreme range, his shots were precise, incapacitating two more soldiers before they could react, while the others got down behind cover further up the tunnel. After a few seconds, Cecilia and Colonel Sceryei both jumped out quickly and kept along the right of the tunnel before entering the room. Vaughn kept firing down the tunnel to distract the soldiers as Cecilia made her way down the set of rooms and ducked through another door behind the soldiers.

Noticing that she was dry again, she swung her sword with a smirk as ice engulfed the remaining soldiers; she watched as they screamed in panic while they tried to break free. Vaughn snapped his fingers with the click again echoing down the tunnels, then reached Cecilia and saw her wave as he took up a position not far from her. He broke cover and ran towards her, while vaulting over the different tiers of sandbags that had been set up by the White Fang. As he jumped the final bit of cover to meet with his sister, he quickly pointed his gun up at her and she just managed to dodge out of the way as he fired. She looked at Vaughn with a mortified expression on her face, but then turned around as she heard a gun drop to the floor, and saw that there was still a conscious White Fang soldier. She rolled her eyes and sighed in relief as she approached the soldier, and rammed the cross-guard of her claymore into his head. Turning back to Vaughn with a harsh stare, she punched him in the head, making him reel back and hold his cheek as he turned back to face her.

"Warn me next time, Vaughn!" she yelled out at him, her voice echoing through the tunnels and startling her at the unexpected noise. Then they both looked back at each other, and laughed before they continued on to meet with Colonel Sceryei. They both entered the door to the control center of the base, seeing bodies scattered throughout the room as Grey Six had been forced to kill those who wouldn't surrender. However, there was a row of restrained White Fang soldiers lined up on their knees, their hands bound with zip-ties. As they watched, Grey Six forced another one down by kicking him in the back of his knees. He looked up to see Vaughn and Cecilia, and sighed as he saw that they were alright. He motioned for Vaughn to follow him, and he responded with a nod while Cecilia stood guard over the captives with her sword on her shoulders and her arms draped over it.

Gunshots echoed throughout the base, so much so that Cecilia couldn't tell which way they were coming from, Vaughn's and Colonel Sceryei's direction or from behind in the tunnels. She brought up her sword defensively and waited to see if anyone came through the doorway, only to see lights flashing through as Atlesian soldiers came pouring in. They quickly filled the room, with some passing Cecilia and through the doorway that Vaughn and Sceryei had entered, while the rest stayed behind and had their guns trained on the captives.

"Lower your weapons. They are no longer a threat," she ordered with a growl.

"Just being cautious," someone out of sight said with a laugh and Cecilia looked up with a surprise and a hint of fear. From the doorway leading in to the tunnels, a Lieutenant just slightly older than Cecilia emerged and upon closer inspection, Cecilia realized who it was.

"Long time no see, Cecil," he said with a smirk, while looking at Cecilia but then his expression changed as he continued to look at her.

"Or should I say Cecilia. My, my, you _have_ grown more feminine since the last time I saw you."

She kept her eyes narrowed on his and from time to time her gaze would switch between him and his soldiers, as they still had their weapons trained on her captives.

"Don't make me repeat myself: stand down!" she barked at them, with some of the soldiers shifting in position while others stood firm, as the Lieutenant kept looking at her with a smirk.

"You are in no position to order me around; you don't rank me, and you're not in my chain of command," he said as he spread his arms out and looked around as he motioned towards the men that were with him.

"Besides, these animals can still be dangerous," he said again as he crouched next to one of the captives who looked up and growled at him.

"See? They all have some fight in them, like rabid dogs, they will fight even when cornered," he said as he stood up, while raising his hand in the air slowly; Cecilia tried to rush him, but was held back by two soldiers.

"For the White Fang!" cried out one of the Faunus soldiers just before the Lieutenant swung his hand down and the entire room filled with sounds of automatic gunfire. Cecilia watched with horror, her breath stuttering as she fell onto her knees, and the man approached her slowly. He chuckled and crouched again, this time placing a hand on her chin while lifting her face up to meet with his, then pointed a finger to his eye, noticing that it had been replaced with bionic prosthetic.

"I haven't forgotten about this, you know," Scimitar Six- Lieutenant Rickard Adams- told her in a hushed voice, then he got back up and pulled a pistol from his hip and pointed it at her head.

"We can always tell command that the captives broke free and killed you, so we had to put them down," the soldiers around him stood silently while some started to back away from him; without warning, a gunshot rang loudly through the room.

As Cecilia opened her eyes, she saw that Rickard was holding his bloody hand in front of him as he gritted his teeth in pain, and turned to see that Vaughn was standing at the other doorway with his rifle pointed right at him. Just behind him, Colonel Sceryei stomped through the door and stopped behind Cecilia and was shocked to see the row of dead White Fang soldiers. Cecilia swallowed back and took her claymore, then stood up and plunged it suddenly into Rickard's chest. Vaughn stood for a shocked moment but then snapped back to attention as he saw the Atlesian soldiers raising their weapons and trained them on Cecilia.

"You really don't want to do that, men," Colonel Sceryei barked as he looked around at them, as Lieutenant Rickard Adams gurgled, and blood poured from his mouth. He collapsed to the ground, convulsing as he died. Some looked back to one another and shifted in position, while others immediately lowered their weapons, then the rest followed suit.

Rickard gasped for air through the foam of blood, and put a hand on Cecilia's shoulder as he took another choking breath, then looked back up at her.

"As soldiers you are held to a much higher standard of honor. I will tolerate small transgressions, but not the murder of unarmed and bound prisoners. The punishment for the crime of ordering this atrocity is death, under my authority," Colonel Sceryei said in a booming voice, however the room was dead silent, so the effect was jarring. Cecilia slowly pulled the sword out of Rickard's chest and watched the light leave his eyes as he finally expired. The expression on his face was one of terror and sorrow. And regret.

"We are done here," Colonel Sceryei said before a crackle on the comm interrupted him and he put his fingers to his ear.

"Scimitar Six! Grey Six! This is Command. We have detected a large group of Grimm converging on your position, get out of there, now!"

"This is Grey Six. Scimitar Six is dead; I am assuming command of his men. Order understood and acknowledged, Command." Colonel Sceryei replied on to the comm calmly, while waving a finger in a circle in the air to order the men to round up and leave. "We're finished here, anyway. Out."

* * *

( **Present Day** )

Cecilia was quietly playing with her food, just pushing pieces back and forth on to the sides of the plate. Zed continued to eat loudly while looking down at his plate with his a furrowed brow as he thought to himself. As he finished the last scraps of his meal, he looked up at Cecilia with his arms crossed as he continued chewing. She looked up at him, then back down at her plate, and then back up at him as she noticed that he was looking at her. He continued to stare at her with his arms crossed and she lowered her gaze and set aside her fork.

"I'm sorry, Zed." She said quietly, while refusing to look up at him.

"I am not the one you should be apologizing to," he told her, and leaned back in his seat as he gazed down at her. She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself then looked away and sighed.

"I understood your problem at first, but you took it way too far by bringing Vaughn into this. You ended up forcing my hand, and causing an even greater divide in the team," he said while raising his voice at her, which made her cringe and back away in her seat. He took a deep breath when he saw this and tried to calm himself down, but ended up rolling his eyes.

"Haiiden is not your enemy, okay? He is not your mom, nor your dad, and he is not the Major, either," he told her, trying to be sympathetic to her, but also showing loyalty to his friend. Her head immediately shot up with her eyes flashing the usual "Cecilia" stare, before it turned back to an expression of sadness.

"You think that's why I'm mad at him?" She asked, almost rhetorically.

"You feel like he abandoned you, like your parents did, so I assume that's why you're angry."

She furrowed her brow at him, before exhaling and calming down, then looked away from him. She put her hand over her mouth as she took in a deep breath through her nose and turned back to Zed. "Zed, you misunderstand."

* * *

( **One year and nine months ago** )

Teams Scimitar and Grey lost eight soldiers on their way out of the tunnels as the Grimm dug through the ground and broke through the tunnel walls. They met on the surface and lost a few more, only having a handful of soldiers who were now uncoordinated as they fired wildly and out of fear, while Vaughn and Cecilia covered each other's backs, with Vaughn making calculated shots and trying his best to divert the attention of the other Grimm to cover the remaining soldiers. Colonel Sceryei emerged from the tunnels while carrying a soldier over his shoulder as the tunnel exploded, and dust blew out from the shaft like a Dust cartridge from the barrel of a gun. He quickly dropped the soldier as a lone Beowolf managed to get out, only for the Colonel to catch it by the mouth and split its skull in half. Just at that moment, a Nevermore crashed in through the walls of the building and crushed another soldier as it landed.

Colonel Sceryei looked back and saw that Cecilia and Vaughn were fighting harder now as the endless onslaught of Grimm continued to come. The fatigue was taking its toll as Cecilia's swings started to become wide and slow, with some Grimm even dodging her strikes, while Vaughn's normally calculated and deadly accuracy was waning, his shots going wide and missing their targets. The Nevermore let out a piercing shriek as it stood in front of Colonel Sceryei with Cecilia and Vaughn turning to face the creature.

"My son, my daughter! Go! Now!" He yelled out to the both of them and waved his arm for them to run. Cecilia shifted in place and hesitated at first, unsure of whether or not to back him or to just leave him there. Colonel Sceryei dodged an incoming attack and swatted at the Nevermore's beak, then turned back to the twins.

"I'll be fine, children, just go! Protect the men!"

Cecilia took in a deep breath and nodded, running with her brother as he threw a vial filled with red dust that exploded upon contact with the wall, creating a hole just big enough for them all to escape. Cecilia jumped through first, while Vaughn stayed behind and covered the retreat of the remaining soldiers; as Vaughn waited his turn to go through the opening, he watched as Colonel Sceryei fought the Nevermore. As the last soldier jumped through, Vaughn shot a Boarbatusk as it leaped to attack the Colonel, before jumping through himself. He landed on the ground and began to slide down the face of a snow-covered mountain, regaining his footing, then continued down the mountain to meet up with the rest of the group. As he caught up, he looked back to see some of the Grimm had begun to follow them, so he turned his body around and slid in the snow as his rifle reconfigured into sniper mode, and shot the first one. With each shot, the recoil gave him more inertia to continue skiing down the mountain, but all of a sudden the base at the top of the mountain exploded. Cecilia immediately looked back as most of the soldiers ran past her, while some stayed by her side to fire upon incoming Grimm.

She watched as the base collapsed into a fiery rubble but noticed that the explosion had loosened the ice and snow at the top of the mountain, which formed into an avalanche. Vaughn and the soldiers that stayed with Cecilia looked on in horror as they noticed the wave of ice and snow rushing towards them. Some of the Grimm that turned to look at the incoming snow were swept away, while others continued on their one-way track to get to the soldiers, oblivious to what was happening. Vaughn started to run towards his sister as she began to run towards the soldiers that had already made their way farther down the hill in an attempt to stop them.

"Halt! I'm assuming command as acting Lieutenant, and I've got an idea!" She yelled out to them, stopping them in their tracks, but they started to back pedal away as they noticed the avalanche coming closer. She stopped next to them and turned around to face the top of the mountain as well as the incoming ice and snow. She pulled out her claymore and waved it in front of her, putting her hand on the hilt and slowly running her hand down the blade, summoning its icy blue flame.

"What are you doing?" Vaughn yelled out after her as the incoming snow and ice got louder and closer. She continued to look ahead of her with a grin as her blade was lowered. Vaughn slid to a stop right next to the group and saw that Cecilia was the only one wearing a face of confidence as the soldiers slowly backed away. Vaughn watched as Cecilia gripped her sword tightly, then saw its ethereal glow as Cecilia lifted her blade and thrust it in front of her, creating a cone of thick ice which blocked the avalanche. The soldiers didn't know what they were looking at at first, and were still backing away nervously but stopped as they saw the snow and ice fly overhead. They were saved.

* * *

After the avalanche passed, Cecilia and Vaughn, as well as the remaining soldiers were picked up by Bullhead and were taken back to base. Their return wasn't a friendly one, however. As they landed, Cecilia was immediately arrested for killing Scimitar Six. After a couple of weeks, due to the testimonies of Vaughn, as well as a couple of the surviving soldiers, coupled with the recordings from their helmet cameras, Cecilia was then released.

"You don't have the authority to just execute someone at a whim on the battlefield. Drumhead trials and summary executions were banned centuries ago; things have to go through legal channels at the Judge Advocate General's Office as well as a military tribunal led by JAG officers," said their CO with a sigh and he looked down at some pre-signed paperwork.

"Although, from the evidence presented, we do agree on your choice to kill Lieutenant Adams, but again, you don't get to make that kind of decision on the fly. So it's because of that, that we must issue some kind of disciplinary action, and in this case it's going to be a 'dishonorable discharge.' For both of you," he finished as he signed the papers and handed them to Vaughn and Cecilia. She sat shocked when Vaughn received his, and looked up with her brow furrowed.

"But why Vaughn? He didn't kill Rickard."

"LIEUTENANT Adams, acting Lieutenant. Vaughn was part of your team at the time, and shot Adams in the hand. The same punishment will apply to Colonel Anatoliy Sceryei, though his punishment will be slightly more severe, due to his being your leader, and sanctioning your actions. Colonel Sceryei will be reduced two steps in rank- to Captain- and issued a dishonorable discharge posthumously, of course," he finished and waved for them to leave. Cecilia tried to respond, but a hand on her shoulder- Vaughn's- stopped her, and she could only tighten her fists. After a few seconds, she let out a sigh and walked out.

Once outside, in the crisp winter air, they walked in silence for several minutes. Vaughn finally broke the silence. "So, what now?" he asked as they left Division HQ in Atlas with their duffle bags draped over their shoulders.

"I don't know. I guess it's just how it's always been: you and me against the world." She didn't look up to her brother when she responded, but instead continued to walk ahead. They were about to walk past an alleyway when two figures appeared from inside, which startled both Vaughn and Cecilia and forced them to pull out their weapons in case the pair were a threat.

"That won't be necessary; I am not your enemy, but a friend," said a man with a coffee cup in hand, while a woman stood behind him.

"Sceryei, I presume?" The twins looked back to each other then back at the man with raised brows.

"That was our adopted father's name," Cecilia said with surprise.

"And now it's yours. He had sent me a message pertaining to you both in the case of his death or disappearance," the man explained to them with a lopsided grin.

"I have been told of your skills, and I have a special offer for you both."

* * *

( **Present Day** )

"You misunderstand, sir," Vaughn said to Haiiden as he sat with his palms open and his hands outstretched, and with a confused look on his face.

"My sister is not mad at you because you remind her of the parents that abandoned us, or the Major," Haiiden's eyes darted from side to side as he thought to himself while lowering his hands to his knees.

"She was mad at you because-," Vaughn paused a moment, at a loss for words. He sat for a moment, thinking to himself before he took in a deep breath.

"Remember what Headmaster Ozpin said, when he first made us a team?" Vaughn asked.

"Yes, that we would all be together for the next four years," Haiiden replied.

"Yes, but most importantly to my sister especially, was that we are now a family," Vaughn finished, a look of pain in his eyes as he tilted his head at Haiiden, as he hoped that his Captain understood what he was trying to say. Haiiden sat silently, then laid down on his bed with his hands on his stomach and stared at the ceiling.

"I- I left because I wanted to do well in my own way," Haiiden defended.

"We all do," Vaughn retorted, and the room fell into silence.

"Do you hate me too?" he asked after several minutes passed.

"No sir, or at least hate wouldn't be the word I would choose. More like disappointment, but with a smidgen of understanding," he continued, then began to pull the glove off of his right hand and presented it to Haiiden, who then looked back at it and froze.

* * *

"I see," said Zed as Cecilia finished. Keeping his arms crossed as he looked away from her while he thought back to what she explained to him. Cecilia stared at him with her hands in front of her on the table while students began to slowly vacate the dining hall as it got close to the time for them to return to their dorms. Zed sat and stared for a while longer before suddenly brandishing a smile and stood up again.

"Well, he's back now, and that's what matters. He can still be the man that you thought of him," Zed said with his trademark grin, while Cecilia looked up at him in surprise, which then turned in to a smile as she thought his confidence was humorous. He motioned his head to the side to suggest going back to their dorm, at which Cecilia then got up and walked beside him with a bit more energy in each step. As they reached their dorm, Zed quickly stopped Cecilia before she entered.

"I don't want any more problems from here on, okay?" He asked her softly, as he thought the time for aggression and hostility was over, and he hoped that they could all go back to being friends. She scoffed and looked back at him with a smile, then whipped her hair away from her face to to reveal her expression to him. He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at her, but then noticed something behind her.

"Go on, I'll be back in a few seconds," he said to himself with a hint of uncertainty as he inched closer to see a girl further down the corridor. Cecilia's smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of confusion, but she just shrugged it off and went inside. As Zed approached cautiously, he begged to himself in his mind that what he wasn't seeing what seemed to be. As he got closer, he noted the black hair, the black and white blouse and the black bow that only added to his fear. Then she turned around and made eye contact with Zed, which only served to confirm his fear, as they recognized each other and her yellow eyes widened, expressing the same fear he felt before she ran away.

"W-wait!" he reached out and yelled after her as he began to give chase. Watching her hair flow as she turned the corner, and as he reached it she had disappeared.

"It can't be," Zed said with a shiver.


	9. Vol 1: Chapter 9

( **One week after chapter 8** )

In the wilderness of Mistral resided a single log cabin, surrounded by soldiers of the Mistral military. Two were standing on the roof as they kept watch over the forests that surrounded them, while another squad comprised of four privates stood guard at generator which gave the cabin power. Nearby was an armored vehicle of military design, which had a large machine gun turret at its top that swiveled from side to side as it scanned the area.

A patrol was due to return from their rounds shortly, but one of the rookie soldiers in that patrol became distracted as he heard rustling in the bushes nearby. Hesitantly, he strayed from the group to investigate and inched toward the shrubs to peer over them. After a quick search, he concluded that there was nothing out of the ordinary tonight.

"You know, I haven't bloodied my blade in a long time."

The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, yet came from every direction at once, which startled the soldier and left him frozen in place. He heard footsteps behind him, and quickly debated in his mind whether to call out for help or run. It was too late however, as he heard a blade cut through the air, which was aimed at his neck.

Later, the rest of the patrol quickly stopped and turned; the rustling grew louder as a mixture of birds and smaller birdlike Grimm flew away. At this point, they did a headcount and discovered that they were missing their comrade, after which they their squad leader decided that they should cautiously backtrack in an attempt to find him. After walking nearly half a mile back the way they came, they spotted his helmet, and a puddle of blood, but there was no body in sight. As they moved in to retrieve the helmet, the air was then filled with blue and orange light, as beams of similar colors speared the soldiers.

"Where is the patrol?" One of the soldiers standing guard outside asked through their comms. One man, the Captain in the charge of this area's operations, had different colors on his armor to show his rank. He reacted by placing two fingers against his ear as he was about to reply before being interrupted.

"Oh God! He found us!" A man in civilian attire yelled out frantically, digging his fingers in to his hair and pulled on it as he paced back and forth. The soldiers looked on with eyes wide, while others shrugged off his nervousness as paranoid fear. The Captain slowly lowered his hand and walked over to him, grabbing him by the arm to snap him back in to reality. It had the opposite effect, however, as he yelled out in shock and tried to pull away at the sudden contact. Only after he had noticed that it was the Captain did he stop fidgeting, but still held a nervous posture as he huddled to himself as if he was trying to disappear.

"You're safe with us, sir." He told the civilian confidently, and tried to sit him down on the couch, but the man quickly jumped up and backed away.

"Safe!" No, no! This man is a monster! There is no such THING as safe! If- if he wants you dead, you ARE dead! We have to run while we still can!" He screamed frantically, then tried to run out the door, but two soldiers stopped him, holding his arms as they pulled him back to the couch and forced him down. The others who were watching chuckled to themselves as they witnessed this man's outbursts.

"One man against a squadron of special forces. I doubt he will do much damage," he said calmly but also dismissively as he was getting fed up with the man's constant paranoia. Putting his fingers to his head again as he was about to issue another order.

"Sir, we got incoming Grimm." The sound of gunshots could be heard as a soldier reported on the intercom. The armored vehicle's turret turned and started to fire on the Grimm as they appeared from the forest. The men outside were able to handle the handful of Grimm but as the shots rang through the trees, more Grimm became attracted to it and they appeared from the forest's edge in steadily increasing numbers. The men had a moment to reload their weapons and ready them again, but noticed that this new wave of Grimm stopped and all turned their heads in one direction. After a few moments, the Grimm lowered their heads in fear before turning around and running away.

"Sir, the Grimm are– they're falling back, sir. I've never seen anything like it!" The Captain nodded to himself as his men cheered outside, and feeling a sense of pride at this victory, he turned to face Buddy. He had been ordered by the Council in Mistral to protect him, the urgency for his safety was made clear by both Ozpin as well as Peter Port, as they explained his importance.

"If we can handle the Grimm, I am sure we can handle one man."

"NO!" Buddy yelled out again, some of the soldiers continuing to look at him with annoyance, while others with morbid curiosity wondered why he was so afraid. They pondered to themselves as to whether or he was shivering or merely shaking his head.

"No! The Grimm are not mindless! They will not stay if they know they're going to die."

"Good! If you are smart, you will not mess with the special forces." One soldier replied to try and raise the morale as more soldiers began to turn their attention to Buddy. Some were wondering why they had been sent so far from the capital just to protect one man, and questioned if it was worth the resources. They looked on as Buddy began to rock back and forth on the floor of the room while he quietly whimpered to himself. The fear that he felt began to creep into the other soldiers, and they all began to feel uneasy. Buddy shook his head again and raised his head to look the Captain in the eyes.

"They were not afraid of you! They were afraid of HIM!"

A thud was then heard above, followed by a sound that could only be described as something sliding down the roof of a house before a body appeared briefly in the window and dropped to the ground with a muffled thud. The men guarding the generator left their position and went to check on their comrade, then sounds of blades cutting through the air could be heard as the four men were quickly killed. The cabin went silent as the soldiers snapped to attention, raising their rifles slowly as they began to back up against the walls and pointed their weapons at key entry points. Then the cabin went dark as the generator outside was shut off; the only source of light was now coming from the fireplace nearby, which Buddy began to huddle next to and continued to whimper quietly as his head darted from the left then to the right and back again.

Suddenly, the bulbs inside the cabin all began to burst, leaving behind a couple of sparks from their shattered remains. One of the soldiers noticed one of the bulbs in particular had created a small arc of electricity, which began to oscillate. It moved faster and faster as the soldier slowly approached it out of curiosity before a jolt of electricity struck him in the chest. One by one, the other soldiers were quickly killed as the other light bulbs shot similar bolts into them. Then the flames from the fire jumped up and engulfed one of the remaining soldiers, and Buddy pushed himself away from the soldier as the corporal screamed before collapsing as he lost consciousness from lack of air.

Buddy began to huddle closer to the flames that remained in the fireplace and his whimpering grew as he saw a figure begin to form in the darkness. Watching as the figure waved his hand slowly with electricity pulsing around his hands, and the remaining energy from the light bulbs disappeared.

"Afraid of the dark, Buddy?" The all too familiar voice of Ash could be heard, and even though he couldn't see the man's face, Buddy could see a grin and glowing eyes that slowly grew bigger as he approached.

"A-Ash! What are you doing here?" Buddy asked as he slowly got up and tried to hide his fear with a smile. Ash continued to slowly approach, and the fire was finally able to illuminate him. Stopping for a moment as he looked around as though just noticing the mess he had created for the first time, looking at the fallen soldiers, all of whom had black carbon on their chests where the electricity had speared them. Then, turning his attention to the charred body that he had set ablaze, he chuckled to himself and raised his head, closing his eyes before combing back his hair with his fingers, and looked back down at Buddy.

This time, his grin was gone.

Buddy quickly got up and backed away with his hands raised in the air, looking behind him as he almost tripped over one of the soldier's bodies and tears began to flow down his cheeks.

"I don't like it when people betray me, Buddy." Ash said as he advanced towards Buddy with a scimitar in each hand.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Ash! I- I would never betray you!" Buddy exclaimed as his faced expressed shock, which only grew as his back touched the wall behind him.

"Really now? You see, when I went in to kill Snyegh, it turned out that she was waiting for me along with her Huntress friend. Ironwood then came by with a detachment of soldiers. Now tell me, who would have told them that I would be coming?" Ash asked as he tilted his head with mocking curiosity, his brow furrowed in anger as he looked down upon Buddy as the sniveling man slinked down on to the floor.

"It wasn't me! I swear! It was that freak, the one who always wears white and talks weird! I always knew it shouldn't have been trusted!"

"Really?" Ash asked with his eyes widened in surprise, and then laughed loudly to himself.

"Buddy, you cowardly little snake! I never thought you'd have the stones to lie to me! Since you see, I never told anyone of my plans to kill her, or at least, no one besides YOU." After that statement, Buddy's eyes grew wide and they darted from side to side as he thought of an excuse, but instead looked back up at Ash as he advanced towards him. Ash immediately stopped as he heard a click behind him, then leaned out of the way as the Captain, who was still alive, shot a holdout pistol at Ash. The shot missed, and with a quick and fluid motion, Ash lifted Buddy on to his feet then proceeded to advance towards the Captain while using Buddy as a shield. The Captain tried to aim for Ash's head, but he kept ducking behind Buddy's, preventing the Captain from getting a clear shot as the fatigue and ataxia began to take its toll. He dropped his pistol as he accepted defeat and looked up at Ash defiantly.

"You! I like you! Even when you are supposed to just keel over and die, instead you fight on," Ash said with a smile as he pushed Buddy away and gazed down at the Captain, who in turn continued to look at him with eyes narrowed.

"However, I am pressed for time, so I'll have to make this quick." Ash sighed, then knelt down and gripped the Captain's throat, lifting him in the air so that his feet were dangling just inches from the floor. His body began to convulse, and he stared wide-eyed at Ash while he shakily gripped his wrist in an attempt to get him to loosen his grip. Ash then twisted his hand, and snapped the Captain's neck easily, then let go and watched the body fall on to the floor with a sick grin. After a few moments, he turned back to Buddy to see that he was trying to make a hasty retreat, and escape through the window.

"I don't like loose ends, Buddy. I will deal with the traitor Ossea myself, and I do hope it has better protection than these sorry sots." He then connected the hilts of his scimitars together and as they touched, an electric charge pulsed through the blades, arcing at the tips and connecting opposite the curve. The discharge of electricity kept the two blades connected and formed a shape similar to a bow.

"Electricity, or fire?" he asked Buddy as he curled two fingers together and hovered it over the handle of his "bow". Buddy began to cry as he fell on his knees and noticed that Ash was plucking at the arc of electricity, pulling it back as though it were a bowstring. As he pulled his fingers away, a blue "arrow" of electrical current spawned between his fingers, which grew larger and larger as he continued to pull. Buddy's fear intensified as the light in the fireplace died out, and the only light remaining was that of the arrow which pulsed and crackled, while illuminating Ash's face. The last thing that Buddy saw was a sick and twisted grin, which glowed in the darkness as Ash let the arrow fly; as it flew, it left Ash's face bathed in a profound darkness that was not unlike his soul.

* * *

While leaning against the wall with her arms folded, Cinder's patience grew thin as she waited while tapping her foot on the floor. The tapping echoed through the corridor, which she eventually turned into a rhythm subconsciously while also wondering to herself why Ash was allowed to come back. She mused that, having been offered such clemency after such an epic infraction, he could at least show his gratitude by being at least remotely punctual. After a few moments, a second set of footfalls could be heard, and Ash emerged from around the corner at the end of the hallway. He stopped in front of Cinder with a grin that wasn't directed at her, but was merely the result of the the fun that he'd just had. Cinder noticed that he was slowly coming back to reality after being lost in thought, as he turned his head around to identify where he was, before turning his gaze to Cinder.

"You're late. You're _always_ late," she said to him before he was able to get in a greeting and began to walk down the hallway while motioning for him to follow.

"Oh please. Why should I be on time if I don't even know why I'm here?" he asked with a scoff, again, looking around as he walked behind her and noticing how much of the building had changed since he was last here. For example, he noticed that it was much cleaner and tidier than he had left it.

"He wants to have a chat with both of us."

"Have you been complaining about my coming back, Cinder?" he asked in a patronizing tone and pursed his lips to imitate someone crying. She immediately turned around and stopped as she noticed the face he was making. As usual, she was annoyed at his childish behavior, which could be seen in her furious scowl at him.

"I was not complaining, but instead I brought up legitimate concerns about letting you come back. It is almost time to move, and we can't have you screwing things up," she told him sternly.

"Aww, and here I thought we could still be friends, at least," he said while trying to run his hand down her cheek; Cinder quickly reacted by grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm. His body reeled to the right as he tried to ignore the pain, and was laughing to himself maniacally as he looked Cinder in the eyes, which began to glow orange. Cinder thought about burning him right then and there, but then something pinged in her mind, something that caused her eyes to immediately turn back to normal. The thought made her flinch and freeze in position while staring at nothing. Ash noticed, and his grin grew wider.

"He is telling you to calm down, isn't he?" He asked her in a mocking tone. She swallowed back, then let go of his wrist and quickly turned around to continue to walk to their destination, but this time at a quicker pace. After a couple turns down the corridor, Cinder stopped at a set of double doors and silently waited for Ash to catch up. When he finally arrived, she noticed that his grin was gone, and that he began to fix his hair with some pomade. After he was done, he looked down at Cinder and nodded to her to signal that he was ready. They both slowly opened the doors, which lead into a room that was similar to Cinder's: a fireplace at one end, with two chairs set up in front of it with no other source of light except for the fire roaring in the hearth. The curtains were arranged a little bit more neatly, and there weren't any books lying around like there were in Cinder's. As they approached the fireplace, they could see someone sitting in one of the chairs, but they couldn't see his face, as he wore a hood to cover it.

Cinder stopped just short of the second chair and stood with her hands together in front of her while Ash grinned lightly at her. He stepped forward to take the empty chair before the man raised his hand and motioned for him to stop. Ash froze immediately and his grin disappeared when the hand then motioned for him to back away. Ash responded with a hesitant bow before returning to stand beside Cinder.

"You two would fight each other while I am here?" he said to both of them with a hint of concern in his voice. Cinder turned to Ash, who swallowed nervously and kept his hands behind him as he stood straight and at attention.

"It is almost time to make our next move. I can't have my best clawing at each other's throats."

They both bowed their heads in response, but Cinder shifted in position as she desperately wanted to speak. Ash noticed her body language immediately and the figure seemed to know what her concern was about, but waved a hand to stop her before she could utter a word.

"Now, to address Cinder's concern about you, Ash. She has raised some interesting points: why should I let you come back, let alone live?" Ash took a deep breath when the question was asked while Cinder grinned to herself and looked back at him as she waited to hear a wrong answer that would allow her to kill him.

"I am a people person, first of all. I can manipulate people to do my bidding, which is really yours, and I am really very, VERY good at killing." He face twisted into a wide grin when he brought up the part about killing.

"You are right. You can do those things, especially the part about killing, which can be a good thing. Except when you kill the wrong person!" The hooded figure growled at Ash and Cinder, both noticing a black Aura begin to shroud him, which seemed to distort the air around his form.

"I knew Snyegh for a long time. I cared for her, and I had hoped to make her see reason, to see that this was the best way." As he said this, the Aura around him slowly died down, and turned to white as he began to calm himself.

"Yes, but we both know that she would not have joined us, and that made her dangerous." Ash explained, and remembered that the last time they talked, it was when he had first killed Snyegh. As Ash recalled, his Master would not even listen to his reasons, and instead issued a kill-on-sight order. The figure's Aura slowly disappeared, and for some strange reason the room around them went cold.

"True. She would be dangerous to us if she didn't join. I often envied the sense of hope that she had for the future. For a moment, that had blinded me to our mission, but now with that distraction out of the way, we can move forward. I won't say that what you did was correct, but I will not hold it against you. However, if you do anything that endangers our mission again, my hands will be the first around your throat!" Ash swallowed nervously behind his grin as he bowed his head in reply.

"Thank you for your mercy," he said in a tone that caused set Cinder off, as she thought he was making a mockery of the man.

"You can't be serious! He is a loose cannon, you can't control him!" she yelled out, but then realized she had stepped out of line and backed away. The figure, however, did not react immediately to this outburst, but instead hummed as he thought.

"I have noticed this of you Ash. To work with us again, you must obey our rules, and how we go about doing things. You will take orders directly from me and you will comply with them to the letter," Ash's grin vanished, and he nodded slowly in response. Cinder attempted to speak again, but this time the figure suddenly threw a pitcher of water in to the fire, and the room went dark as the flames were extinguished with a hiss and a cloud of white smoke that went unseen in the sudden black.

"Let your eyes adjust, you two." The figure said in the darkness, with Ash and Cinder not knowing where it came from as it seemed to echo and originate from all around them. For a few moments, Cinder thought that she could see a figure in the darkness, but concluded they were only silhouettes of the objects around her. Ash, however, had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly as he was calm, and was waiting for his leader. Then a light suddenly appeared in the darkness, originating from a candle which illuminated the hand holding it, but not the person.

"Do you see how the darkness attempts to enshroud the light? The darkness is just the absence of light; you can never erase the shadow. As long as there is light, erasing shadows will do no good. Two sides of the same coin, only when the light ceases will the darkness then lose its meaning."

Ash and Cinder both stared at the light but at first it blinded the both of them. Cinder began to look around to see if she could see anything around her, but because of the light from the candle, the silhouettes had disappeared, so she centered her vision solely on the light.

"Beacon. Signal. What are the significance of these two words?" As he asked, Ash and Cinder then looked back to one another, asking each other with their eyes as to what the point of the question was before they both pondered the answer.

"They were the firstCombat School and Huntsmen Academy," Ash responded, and Cinder looked at him, then back at the candle.

"True. For when the world was reborn under the darkness, which was fueled by hate and misery, humanity succeeded in surviving, and thrived thanks to the Huntsmen and Huntresses. However, this is not the full answer to my question." Cinder could then feel a gaze being trained on to her, leaving her frozen as she wondered if it was "him" looking at her, but she wasn't able to determine that.

"Both words point to a light, a light that is meant to guide the way," she responded after a few seconds, which felt like minutes to her.

"Exactly. When the first Huntsmen Academies were formed, they were 'beacons' and 'signals', for humanity, meant to give them hope and a light to lead them through the dark path. As the darkness continues to encroach upon the light more and more, the more the people will look to it in the hopes that they will be delivered."

"And forgetting that even the light can be just as blinding as the darkness," Ash said quietly, making Cinder turn her head quickly, as this response surprised her. She sighed in wonder to herself as to how these wise words could come from someone who could only be described as cold and cruel. Even the figure was surprised by this, as he did not answer immediately.

"Focusing so hard on the light to save them that they don't realize that even the light holds its own dark secrets," Ash said while gritting his teeth as he grinned and narrowing his eyes on the candle.

"Exactly. There is no such thing as good, nor evil, and there is especially no altruism in this world! Their hate, greed and lies destroy what so many have sacrificed to make. Even through their hate, their insidiousness, and their lies, they believe they can save a world that is not worth saving." As the figure concluded, his dark Aura appeared, which again distorted the air around him. Even through the darkness of the room, the distortions and the Aura could still be seen. As Cinder quietly thought to herself, she narrowed her eyes, and smiled as she felt a new sense of determination for their mission. Ash's grin grew wider and it was wider than Cinder had ever seen.

"After years of preparing, we can finally make our move. Ash, go now and tend to our enemies. Continue to plant and nurture the seed of division among them." Ash looked up with his grin and his eyes widened as he let out a loud, manic laugh.

"Finally! Unleash me!" He said as he laughed uproariously, and covered his face, his laughter dying little by little before he finally concluded with a sigh. "This is going to be good."

Cinder stood straight and re-lit the fire in the fireplace despite the logs being wet. She smiled to herself when Ash had finally left the room, leaving her and the figure alone in the room. After a moment, he slowly began to sit back down.

"Although, I'd never admit it in front of him, you were always my favorite, Cinder. Your fire burns as brightly as your Semblance, and now it is time for the world's fire to burn out."

"I am ready, sir. We have prepared for this for a long time," she responded.

"You are right; we have been preparing for a long time. If you feel we are ready, I believe it is safe to say that we can proceed to the next phase of our plans."

* * *

Back at Beacon, Ozpin was standing in front of his of desk while facing the windows as they slowly went dark, and images began to appear. The images began to show the silhouettes of the Council of Vale with their faces hidden to protect their identities, while another, smaller image appeared on the side, which revealed that it was Ironwood on the other end. He quietly looked down, and was whispering with the technicians that were with him, making preparations and final checks to make sure that the communications were secure.

"Let us begin this meeting," said one of the council members who was a male whose voice sounded young, which conflated with his impression that the Council member was a young man.

"Have you had the time to think about our request, Ozpin?" asked another Council member; this time the voice belonged to a female.

"I understand that you want one of my teams to undertake a mission against the White Fang," he responded while standing with his hands behind his back, with Glynda watching on the side, staying out of view of the Council members, as well as Ironwood. Ironwood then looked down on his to his scroll to input some information. During this distraction, Ozpin looked towards his desk to see the four folders that he had left collecting dust over the past few weeks.

"They threaten the peace, here in Vale as well as the other Kingdoms. Although we know that your students are just children, Mistral feels that this cell group is plotting a major attack."

"Call upon the military, then. This is not a mission for my students, and they do not need to be involved in this ridiculous conflict." Ozpin responded with a hint of aggression and assertiveness in his voice.

"Watch your tone, Ozpin! You are leading the security for this year's Vytal Festival, and you will help with any security concern, military or otherwise!" replied another male, but this one sounded older and more mature. Ozpin sighed to himself, and hesitantly nodded in reply; upon seeing this sign of defeat, Glynda hung her head and closed her eyes. Ozpin then thought to himself for a moment as to the different teams he could have chosen. He wondered back on the beaming faces of RWBY and JNPR, thinking that this was not something that they, nor any of his students, should be undertaking.

"I've already sent you the information of the team I thought would be best to handle this mission." Ozpin replied.

"Yes, we saw the files you sent to us. A Faunus, two disgraced erstwhile soldiers, and a Ghost. Ironwood, what are your thoughts on this?" Ironwood then stood straighter when his name was mentioned and looked from side to side, as he had been caught off guard.

"I believe they will do well. I have no objections." He responded and a hint of concern flashed on his face as he looked down at the image of Ozpin.

"That settles it. Team HAVC will be deployed to Mistral. We will first contact Penumbra Lipesce to make preparations, and he will contact you when he is ready to receive your team at your earliest convenience." As he finished his sentence and the meeting was concluded, the images of the Council disappeared, while Ironwood's image grew larger.

"You really think that this is the best team, Ozpin?" Ironwood asked with concern in his voice.

Ozpin shook his head and sighed, not reacting when Glynda appeared from behind and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"They will not be happy when I inform them of this." Ozpin said quietly to Glynda, but was still audible enough for Ironwood to hear.

"If it helps, I can get on a call to talk to them as well," Ironwood said with a shrug.

"Perhaps. Maybe it will help, since we can both help to reason with the students. I am mostly worried as to what Haiiden's reaction will be," Ironwood sighed and wanted to scratch the back of his head, but instead looked away.

"We both know that there was nothing I could have done. It was outside of my purview as a Captain at the time."

"I know," replied Ozpin. "It hit him hard, and he has continued to carry that ever since."

All of a sudden, another image then appeared on the screen, and Ironwood turned to his subordinates and began to yell angrily about this breach in their security. After a few moments they realized that all that was shown was a static image.

"The 'King' has begun to move," said Qrow, but his voice was warbled and choppy through the forced connection. Ozpin and Ironwood both narrowed their eyes at the mention of the "King", then look towards Qrow's frame.

"Also... his 'Bishop' has returned." The mention of the Bishop took Ironwood by surprise, turning around for his subordinates to leave while Ozpin continued to stare at the screen.

"Keep your distance for now, Qrow. This isn't the time for revenge, as we need to keep watching and counter them at any turn. We also cannot risk losing any more friends because of him," Ozpin told Qrow, who didn't respond but instead the image flickered a couple times before it disappeared as the connection was cut.


	10. Vol 1: Chapter 10

( **The Story So Far: After a rough start to the year, culminating in a nearly deadly duel between Haiiden and Cecilia, and after some choice words from Zed to her, Team HAVC has come to an accord. After Vaughn related the story of his and his sister's upbringing, Cecilia's hatred for him, and the full effect that Haiiden's leaving Beacon Academy had left on his team became apparent. However, the return of some old faces may raise new problems for the team.** )

* * *

( **A couple of days after Chapter 9** )

Byeli hummed to herself happily, just as she did every morning, and was gleefully dressing herself for the day along with her team, CNBR. Behind her was Nadira, who was the first to get up, and was finishing tightening the black and brown cloth that was wrapped around her forearms and her calves. Occasionally sliding a throwing knife into the slits to hide them until she needed them, then slid four dirks into the sheaths that were connected to a sash that was tightened over her chest. She then quietly combed back her ecru-colored hair, and as she was about to turn she noticed that Byeli was already looking at her with wide eyes and a big smile.

"Wow Nadira! You certainly are pretty!" Byeli said, covering her mouth as she gasped in surprise and giggled to herself. Nadira was taken aback by the compliment, and didn't know what to say. She turned red in embarrassment, not only by Byeli's words, but also by her speechlessness.

"Awww she's turning red!" Byeli said with a squeal and jumped in place. Nadira quickly reached behind her and pulled her hood forward to cover herself. The hood still allowed her to see, as it only created a shadow that covered the top portion of her face, allowing one to see only her mouth. Byeli began to put on her boots, as she was still barefoot while she had become interested in Nadira's ablutions and subsequent dressing. The only other time she ever took off her hood was when she went to bed, even with her sharing a dorm with her teammates. Byeli covered her mouth and hopped excitedly at this while Celise was watching from the corner.

After Nadira had put the hood back on, Byeli stomped her foot on the floor in frustration and returned to putting her boots on. Celise was behind them both, staring in to a mirror as she fixed her hair with a comb. Just as it had become nice and straight, she then combed her hand through her hair to sculpt it and mess it up a little, which gave observers the impression that she was someone who cared about how she looked, but not the opinions of others. She then pulled up her pants and tightened the cord around her waist, the leggings just covering her ankles while still exposing her feet. She turned to face her team, but tripped over a box containing shoes that Zed had bought her in a futile attempt to get her to wear something on her perpetually bare feet.

"Everything else looks great, but when you look down-" When she first met Zed, she remembered that he immediately expressed his concern about her lack of footwear. She thought it amusing, especially since it seemed that Zed was about to tear the hair from his head.

"Does it strike a nerve, big boy?" she asked him with a patronizing tone, gently patting her hand against his cheek with a grin.

She looked down at the shoes with a smile, and shook her head to bring her back to reality. She slowly approached Byeli from behind and put her hand on her head. The fox Faunus jumped with a squeak, and her tail bushed, as the sudden contact had startled her. Celise chuckled to herself and began to gently pet her between the ears.

"Calm down, 'Warrior Princess.'"

"Please, Celise," Byeli responded with a sigh and pulled her head away from Celise's hand. Getting down on her knees, she pulled out two steel rods from under her bed and placed them behind her waist in the shape of an "X".

"Besides, that's a name more befitting of Pyrrha."

"True, but she already has a nickname: 'The Invincible Girl," Celise said while putting a finger to her chin, as if to mock someone in thought. Byeli shook her head and rolled her eyes, while Nadira stared from the corner of the room, and only responded with a shrug. They were all just about to leave the dorm together after Byeli had finished getting ready but then they realized they had forgotten something. Celise slumped her shoulders and leaned her head back, while letting out an annoyed sigh before turning back to walk over to Raine's bed. She stared down at him as he continued to sleep peacefully through their conversation then looked back to Byeli and Nadira with a smirk.

"Oh. Celise, please be nice," Byeli asked while she tensed up in anticipation, covering her mouth with both hands as she watched Celise kick Raine's bed. The force of the kick flipped the bed over, which landed on top of Raine with a thud, and an audible groan emanated from underneath it as he was woke up with a headache. There were signs of movement before the bed suddenly was lifted, and Celise had to stand back as it landed in front of her. Raine appeared as he removed the covers from his body, still wearing his boots, as he was too lazy to take them off before bed. His body was awake, but his mind was still asleep, which could be seen from the appearance of his glazed eyes. As he began to rouse from his slumber, he looked from side to side to see his team staring back at him. Byeli let out a sigh of relief, Nadira just gave her usual blank stare, careful not to show any emotion, while Celise continued to look at him with a big smirk on her face.

"I. Am. Up," he said with a hint of grogginess in his voice, and was trying to regain his footing as he swayed from side to side.

"We can wait for you to get ready," Byeli said to him, not wanting him to go out looking like a mess, as usual. She eyed him from head to toe as she took in every detail of his filthy, slovenly appearance.

"We're already late for breakfast, Byeli. I want to eat before going to class," Celise pouted.

"She's right," Raine replied and moved past his team to walk out the door and into the hallway. Byeli watched in horror as he walked away without even bothering to freshen himself up first. This morning, as he headed to breakfast, he looked exactly like what everyone thought he looked like, someone who had just rolled out of bed.

"At least his hair is spiking in different directions today," Nadira said, seemingly out of nowhere. Celise took this a joke even though she probably didn't mean it as such. Byeli continued to stare, trying to hold back a giggle which began to creep out slowly until she busted out into laughter. Realizing that despite Nadira being serious, it was true nonetheless, and to them it made it much funnier. As they stepped out of the room, they noticed that Raine hadn't gone that far and had been waiting for them. He was looking past his team and his gaze was trained on to something else that was behind them.

"See?" They heard as someone jumped on Byeli and put her arms around her, lifting her up in to a big bear hug. Byeli let out a loud squeak as she was lifted up in the air, and Celise turned around to face the familiar voice of her friend from Signal Academy.

"I told you she was the cutest thing you have ever seen!" said Yang as she continued to hold Byeli in her arms, keeping her grip firm despite her squirming. Beside Yang was her younger sister Ruby, leader of Team RWBY.

"Hello, Yang," Celise said with a stern look, her hands on her hips as she stood tall before Yang. She tilted her head to the side with a brow raised while she stared down at her. Yang looked on from the corner of her eyes, with Byeli then falling to the floor with a thud as Yang let go of her. Yang turned to face Celise, and looked up at her as they both tried to stare each other down. The atmosphere was tense, with Byeli looking on with a worried expression, while Ruby scratched the back of her head as she watched. Before long, the two couldn't continue to hold the charade, as grins began to creep on their faces, and the pair burst out into laughter, and broke eye contact for a few moments before looking back to one another then bumping their fists together.

"Damn, girl, I've been trying to look for you since the school year started!" Yang exclaimed while Ruby slowly approached behind her sister.

"I'm glad I finally found you," she punched Celise on the shoulder, then looked down on to the floor and frowned upon noticing that Celise was still barefoot.

"Some things never change."

"Oh well. At least some things did," Celise said as she looked down and finally noticing the young girl hiding behind Yang. Her face registered shock as she recognized that it was Ruby, and froze in place.

"Celise!" Ruby called out as she jumped in to Celise's arms, which caught her off guard and she was just barely able to catch her.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?" Celise asked as she set her back down on the floor, looking down at her friend's younger sister while holding her cheeks and scanning her face, while moving her head from side to side to make sure that she wasn't mistaken.

"They made an exception and let me in to Beacon two years early!" Ruby answered with a squeal as she couldn't contain her excitement. Ruby had few friends back at Signal Academy, but Celise was one of the only friends that she shared with her sister. Team CNBR looked back at Ruby as they examined her as well. Byeli looked on with a smile and nodded her head, amazed that such a young girl was given the opportunity to join the Academy, while Nadira nodded her approval as well; no one could tell what her thoughts were other than from that, since no one could see her face.

"The first time I met you was two years ago, and you were only starting over at Signal!" Celise said with a proud smile as she ruffled the hair on Ruby's head. Raine, on the other hand, began to pout as he looked back at his team, as well as Yang and Ruby.

"Come on guys. I want to eat before it's time for class," he said with a stomp of his foot, the sudden movement of the man made his hair cover one eye, which he fixed immediately. The rest of Team CNBR followed Raine, while Celise silently stared at Ruby and smiled at her softly. She looked back up at Yang as she put an arm around her, and placed a hand on her shoulder; her free hand she set on top of Ruby's head.

"Come on, 'little-sister,'" said Celise as she pulled Ruby close and walked together with Yang to the dining hall.

"Eek!" Weiss shrieked upon seeing Byeli as she sat in front of her in the dining hall. Everyone else had already gotten their meals while Raine, despite wanting to eat so badly, took longer than anyone else to retrieve his. Weiss was unable to sit quietly as she was fidgeting with excitement while looking at Byeli, who, for her part, was pulling her ears back and lowered in her seat to not attract attention.

"Oh my gosh! First we got Pyrrha, and now we have the 'Warrior Princess!'" Weiss said while covering her mouth and stopped fidgeting, but was instead hopping in her seat.

"Yeah. You should have seen how badly she was freaking out when she met HER." Yang said with a grin as she leaned in to the table to join the conversation.

"I don't freak out!" Weiss responded angrily while fixing her posture and finally forced herself to sit quietly. "I am instead, merely expressing my admiration," she said while raising her head before looking back to Byeli, and smiled again as the excitement was reignited. Byeli looked from side to side as she became the center of attention, and lowered her head when she was compared to Pyrrha.

"Well I understand why she would react in such a way with Pyrrha, as she is famous for far more impressive reasons than I am," Byeli said as she tried to make herself look smaller. "Anyways, 'Warrior Princess' was just a stage name."

"I watched all of your pageants!" Weiss continued as she ignored what Byeli was saying while Celise and Yang rolled their eyes at the mention of pageants.

"Pageants? You mean those shows where girls only strut around and look pretty?" Ruby asked with a raised brow while looking to Byeli. Thinking it was weird that people became famous for such small, and in her opinion, stupid, things. At that moment Raine dropped five plates of food on to the table with a loud clatter.

"Don't tell me you don't know?" Weiss jumped out of her seat and slammed her palms down on the table while leaning forward so that she was face to face with Ruby. "Her shows are said to be the most spectacular and breathtaking! She always went with a Huntress theme, representing the struggles of humanity and how we all fought for survival!"

"Mistral is also well known for its art and competitions," Blake joined in as she leaned in to look down the table. "Even most of the fashion and graphic designers from Mistral are coming to help with the Vytal Festival. Though it's difficult, if you want to be famous, then look no further than Mistral."

"Ah," Ruby responded and looked upward at the ceiling as she processed this information. "So why are you here?"

"Well... it wasn't just an act. I was actually trained for combat, and during my shows, they would bring in Grimm for me to fight, thanks to Professor Port," Byeli shrugged as she spoke while looking down as she played with her food.

"Eek! While Pyrrha is the epitome of what it is to be an amazing fighter, Byeli, however, represented what we are fighting for by mixing grace, art, and style in her fighting! It was awesome!" Weiss remarked as she burst out in excitement, once again catching herself as she lost composure and sat back down quietly and cleared her throat.

"That is cool and stuff," Yang rolled her eyes while responded over Weiss' excitement, raising a brow as she put a hand on to her cheek and looked at Byeli. "But that still doesn't answer the question as to why you're here."

"I have to agree. You could have continued to show support for the Huntsmen and Huntresses by representing us. Why come here?" Blake joined in, which made Byeli feel smaller and smaller as everyone began to press her with these questions. Celise noticed her discomfort, at which point she stood up and sat beside her teammate to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, see, I had a bit of an 'accident,'" She said quietly, which made everyone lean in to hear her but also out of curiosity. Except for Ruby, who instead had a shocked look on her face.

"'Accident?' You mean you couldn't hold it in?" Ruby whispered.

"Not that kind of accident, you dolt!" Weiss yelled out, offended that she would imply something like that about someone she considered a role model.

Blake crossed her arms and stared at Byeli in disbelief. "Revealing that you were a Faunus is considered an accident?"

"Well not in that sense!" Byeli said as she tried frantically to explain what she meant.

"Yeah I saw that show! I don't see what the problem was, however," said Weiss as she crossed her arms and sat down with a hint of arrogance. Byeli smiled at her words but didn't notice the body language which lead her to misunderstand what Weiss meant.

"You were actually normal. Not like those animals," Weiss concluded, upon hearing that Byeli's eyes widened and her smile immediately vanished. Blake tightened her fists at the disparaging remark that was made about the Faunus. Byeli continued to stare in disbelief at Weiss and her eyes began to water. Weiss noticed, and turned to everyone to see that they all were expressing awkwardness, as well as disappointment, in her words.

"What? It's true."

"It is because of that kind of thinking, Miss Schnee, that I had my awards stripped from me." Byeli said with her eyes narrowed angrily at Weiss, wiping her eyes as they itched from the tears that began to well up, but she fought them back.

"Although I did enjoy doing those shows, the one thing I loathed was the fact that I had to hide my Faunus lineage. My parents always told me that people would hate me, that I had to constantly hide it in order to do well in the world, because people were ignorant. But they also told me that I should always be proud of who and what I am," she said as she continued to stare at Weiss coldly, forcing her to look away out of intimidation. Celise then nudged her friend, impressed that she had a tough girl attitude underneath the cute looks. The nudge forced Byeli to break eye contact with Weiss, as the sudden contact had startled her, and the warmth of her friend caused her to calm down. After thinking to herself for a bit she giggled at her friend's support, and nudged her in return.

"I also saw how humans also took pride in who they were, thinking that it was because of humans that Huntsmen existed, and forgetting that there were also Faunus among the many heroes who had fought against the tyrants eighty years ago, saved our art from the bonfires, and preserved our freedom. The difference, however, was that humans didn't have to hide who they were like I did. So during my last show, I decided to reveal who I really was. Needless to say, people did not enjoy learning the truth."

Blake looked on with sympathy, remembering how Byeli had had to hide her true identity as a Faunus, and the fact that she had to hide who she really was as well.

"So Blake, when I say that I had an accident, I mean something else entirely: that my being here was not my intended result. You see, when I revealed what I was, there were some people who _did_ notice and were _impressed_. That was when Ozpin approached me and offered me a chance to join Beacon, saying that my skills were rusty but they could be refined," Byeli then looked back to Weiss, who slowly began to make eye contact. When it was finally made, Byeli smiled softly at her.

"Now I am here. The Huntsmen were always admired and respected, so I accepted Ozpin's offer, that I might demonstrate that Faunus are not just 'animals,'" Weiss winced when she used the word "animals", thinking that she threw the word like a rock, just to spite her. However, as she continued to look at Byeli, she noticed that she still held her smile, and didn't carry any malice in her face when she spoke.

Without warning, the bell rang, signaling the end of breakfast, and giving the students time to head for their morning classes. Raine then began to pout and raise his hands in the air as he had only just finished his third plate, and was still hungry. Everyone at the table got up, with Weiss slowly rising, as she felt a modicum of shame. Yang and Ruby stood up together. While Yang bumped fists with Celise, Ruby instead leaned in and hugged her tightly.

"I am so glad to see you again Celise! I missed you." Ruby said quietly.

"It hasn't been that long since our last year together at Signal," she replied as she tried to feign a tough attitude in front of her team. When they went out of sight, she looked back down on to Ruby and embraced her.

"But I missed you too, Ruby."

* * *

Nadira split off from her team as she had forgotten her books back in their dorm. As she walked down the hall, she was cursing to herself that she could have been so stupid as to have left them behind. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she noticed Zed was looking around at the end of the hall. Zed was nervously looking around himself, seemingly scouting where he had seen Blake the week before. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were flashing between green and fiery orange as he continued to look around, seething through his teeth while also talking to himself in an attempt to calm down. She approached him slowly and tapped him on the shoulder. He immediately spun around and brandished his karambit, with Nadira also pulling out her dirks in response.

"Damn it Nadira! Don't do that!" He exclaimed angrily as he put away his karambit, exhaling in relief after realizing that it was just her.

"You alright, Zed?" she asked him in a monotone voice.

"I'm fine, thanks." He replied as he began to fix his hair and his eyes then stayed green. After he was done with his hair, he moved past Nadira and began to walk down the hall to his next class.

"Where is your team?" she asked.

"Haiiden and Vaughn went to their first class, and Cecilia was called to the Headmaster's office," he replied but without turning around to face her as he continued to walk down the hall.

"So what are you doing here?" She asked with a quirked brow, no longer able to hold the monotonous voice, as curiosity got the better of her, and she forgot to hide her comportment.

"None of your business," he said before turning the corner and disappearing from sight. The coldness in his voice left Nadira speechless and confused, since Zed never acted this way to people he considered his friends, and certainly not to women.

* * *

Cecilia stopped just in front of Ozpin's office and knocked on the door. It opened briefly, giving her just enough time to enter before it closed shut, with the help of Glynda's magic. She remembered the last time she was in this room, and that she had requested a duel for leadership of Team HAVC. She hesitated as she thought to herself as she began to feel shame but also wondered to herself as to why she was feeling this way. She had agreed to forgive Haiiden, of course, but she never felt regret for any of the actions she had ever taken. Feeling that she had made her choices with clarity of mind and of her own free will, that she would take responsibility, and yet she still felt guilty. She tightened her hands in to fists, but then began to think back as to what she saw back on the stage. Her memories of the orphanage, as well as Colonel Sceryei was forced before her eyes and yet, there were also images that were not her own. She thought to herself for a bit before remembering where she was, and proceeded to walk to Ozpin's desk, stopping just in front of it. He kept silent for a few moments as he studied Cecilia's expression, as well as her body language. Sitting with his hands under his chin, he continued to look at her with an inscrutable expression.

"Still not happy, I see?" He said finally, breaking the silence.

The sudden comment took Cecilia off guard, causing her to jump in place and look back between Ozpin and Glynda, as she thought as to what to say.

"I am fine, sir, and thank you for your concern." She replied with an insincere smile.

"Hopefully the outcome of the duel has finally put the matter to rest as to whether or not Haiiden should lead you, and the rest of HAVC," he responded, not moving from the position that he was in, and continued to stare down Cecilia.

"I was actually quite surprised. I had hoped that fighting newbies would dull his skills, but he still proved more than formidable." Cecilia tilted her head as she spoke, this time no longer faking her smile as she thought of Colonel Sceryei and how she thought Haiiden was in some ways similar.

"Good. I hope this will end all hostilities. Students have begun to comment that they have been able to sleep for the first time since the start of the school without being awoken by your arguing," Ozpin said before chuckling to himself and finally breaking eye contact. He allowed himself some time to calm down before looking back up to Cecilia.

"Yet I feel there are other reasons as to why you chose to forgive him," he stated inquisitively and a concerned expression. Cecilia, for her part, responded with a similar look on her face. Then her mind drifted back to the images she had seen once again.

"How is your hand?" he asked. She looked down at her hand and winced to herself, remembering the moment when she touched Haiiden, when her memories were forced out of her, as well as her mind invaded by images that she didn't recognize. Ozpin nodded as he began to piece the clues together then stood up and walked over to Cecilia, stopping face-to-face in front of her.

"Cecilia, what did you see?" He asked her as her face expressed shock and horror at the situation.

"And start from the beginning," Glynda added as Cecilia swallowed nervously, and hesitantly began to recount the images that she had seen.

"There was a fireplace, and even though it felt like a dream, it made me feel nice and warm…"

* * *

"Hello, sleepyhead," Haiiden heard as he remembered the familiar and melodic voice from his recurring dreams. He watched as the hand from this mysterious person reached his head and began to pet him. His hair was gently ruffled as the hand softly glided on top of him and gave him a warm feeling inside. It was a feeling that reignited the flames in his soul, a feeling that he never wanted to let go of again. He looked up at the figure and noticed that it still had the same light that obscured its face, but at that moment it slowly began to fade. As the light slowly disappeared, Haiiden seemed to have lost as his breath as it revealed the features of a woman that he recognized. Her white hair that extended past her shoulders, and her fair skin was as white as smiled at him, then pulled her hand away from him; instead, she set it on her lap next to a book that she had been reading. He couldn't help but sit in silence; awestruck at the woman before him, wanting to say something, yet he was unable to.

" _Feeling better?_ " Haiiden thought to himself, confused as to what she was asking. He was then surprised to see his knees bandaged as he looked down.

" _When did I get these?_ " Haiiden tried to ask but the question instead echoed in his mind. Again and again he kept trying to speak, but no words came out of his mouth.

"Psh. It wasn't that bad!" he couldn't help but freeze as he heard a voice that he did not recognize at first. The only thing he knew was that it sounded like the voice belonged to a child.

"Oh, of course. I always forget how strong my big boy is," the woman then smiled at him again and Haiiden continued to look on with confusion which slowly began to disappear as he regained clarity. Slowly piecing together the clues about the woman, the fireplace, and the voice of a young child. Realizing that he was instead looking through the eyes of his younger self.

" _But then that would mean-_ "

"Yeah! Huntsmen are strong! We don't cry!" his younger self interrupted again, standing up and jumping in place with the familiar excitement that he once felt.

The woman giggled to herself as she watched the boy pick up a wooden sword and began to swing it at imaginary Grimm.

"My, my, you will turn in to a fine Huntsman one day, Haiiden."

"I know I will! You always fought so hard, but then it will be my turn to fight for you!" The younger Haiiden said with his fists tightened and his face expressed determination. The older Haiiden watched on through the boy's eyes, and remembered again the familiar feeling, the same determination that he felt when he came back to Beacon.

"I want to be just like you!" the boy declared, and if Haiiden could have smiled, he would have. His younger self then turned away and continued to swing his wooden sword, hearing it swish as it sliced through the air, but Haiiden then noticed that he was no longer looking through the eyes of the boy. Instead it seemed like he was standing in front of the woman and just within reach of her. He noticed her shocked expression when the boy declared that he wanted to be like her.

" _I don't remember this, or was it just that I didn't notice?_ " Haiiden asked himself as he felt the flames in his soul slowly die when the woman's expression changed to a more somber one. Haiiden then gritted his teeth as he felt something block his throat and his eyes burned while he tried to breathe in deeply to calm himself, but ended up failing.

" _What is wrong? Why do you look like that? Why do you look so-?_ "

" _Disappointed._ "

That word continued to echo in his mind and he began to hear the voices of Professor Port as well as his friend, Vaughn repeating the word in his mind. Then hearing more and more voices that he failed to recognize as they all melded together and in unison began to repeat that same dreadful word.

Disappointed.

Waking suddenly from his nightmare, Haiiden found himself staring up at the ceiling of his team's dorm. Breathing heavily, he then lifted up his left arm; he had removed the gauntlet for the night and instead wore a black leather glove that covered the entirety of his arm. He stared at it for what seemed like minutes as his mind was blank, and he could no longer make out the time. He reflected on his dream as he stared for a few moments more before flexing his hand and curling it into a fist. The leather of his glove writhed against itself as his fingers contracted; he gritted his teeth while he thought. He seethed angrily as he remembered his failings before he began to calm himself, while he repeated the goal that he had set out for himself since joining Beacon.

"Never forget."


	11. Vol 1: Chapter 11

( **The same day as Chapter 10** )

" _Why is she here?_ " Zed thought to himself as he continued down and was fidgeting to himself while obsessively fixing the cuffs of his sleeves. His attention switched to the collar on his vest, and without thinking he started to fix his tie, but ended up pulling too hard. He stopped immediately to loosen the tie as he began to choke, but he ended up loosening it too much so that it hung freely around his neck. He stood there frustrated, as he had messed up, but also since he seemed unable to do anything right lately. In an attempt to calm himself, he took a deep breath while combing his fingers through his hair. He debated in his mind as to whether or not he should continue to his next class, or just run and abandon the Academy. He switched directions as he thought on both choices, especially as he made good points for both options.

"Did they find me?" he asked himself, with the mention of "them" only making him more restless.

"Zed?" the voice seemed to originate out of nowhere, and had startled him. He did not recognize the voice, as he was still lost in his thoughts, and the fact that he didn't recognize it made him jump into a defensive posture. He kicked his foot down and reeled around to face the person to whom the voice belonged. With his karambit in hand, his eyes trained on his would-be foe only to flinch upon realizing who it was.

He looked to see that Haiiden was expressing similar surprise when seeing that Zed was brandishing his weapon. Zed blinked as his mind regained its clarity, glad to see that it was just his teammate, but also felt embarrassed as to how he had reacted. Haiiden couldn't help but be amused by this, leaning forward while putting his hands on his knees while he started to laugh uncontrollably. Zed quietly put away his knife underneath his vest, smiling as he watched Haiiden shake his head and step forward to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wow. I never thought I would get the jump on you like that," he said to Zed while gently gripping his shoulder and shaking him. Zed felt that the shake was necessary, since he felt that he needed something to bring him back to reality. After a while, Haiiden felt his unease when Zed avoided eye contact and tilted his head to try to meet his gaze.

"What's up? I noticed you left the dorm early," Haiiden said. Zed thought to himself for a moment as he tried to find the right words to reply to his friend; he didn't want to mention Blake to him, or the fears that had been haunting him for the past week. He never liked lying to his friend like this, but this was something that he could never tell him about. After making up his mind, he finally looked up at Haiiden in the eyes while flashing his usual grin.

"I was just bored," he told Haiiden, but he knew that it was just another lie, one amongst many. The feeling always killed him inside, and he had always hoped that Haiiden would forever remain ignorant of it.

"Ah," was all Haiiden could say as he backed away from Zed and shrugged his shoulders while chuckling to himself.

"Well, hopefully Professor Oobleck's class will help. The guy has so much energy it practically infects the people around him."

"No wonder Glynda keeps her distance," Zed responded. "And it's Doctor Oobleck, as you well know. 'I didn't earn this Ph.D for fun, you know, thank-you-very-much!'"

"She is afraid of going crazy like him," Haiiden covered his mouth and looked around the corridor cautiously on the off chance that Glynda might be nearby. When he realized it was safe, he couldn't help but snicker at his jabs at Glynda and Oobleck. He then waved a hand to Zed for him to follow while his head was still shaking at the joke that Zed had made. Zed hesitated for a moment and stared at the back of Haiiden's head as he walked away. He then began to feel an all too familiar warmth grow inside his soul as he watched him walk away.

" _You always save me at the right time,_ " Zed swallowed at the thought but a smile slowly crept over him as he dwelled on it. He looked down at his hand and removed the fingerless glove, flexing his fingers and looking back up before finally following his friend to their next class.

* * *

The class was in mid-lecture, with Oobleck darting back and forth through the front of the lecture hall. Papers were being blown everywhere as he whizzed past his desk repeatedly. Some students had to turn their heads in order to keep up, while others had to hold their hands since they were cramping from writing too fast. Zed, Haiiden, and Vaughn slowly entered as to not to attract any attention as they walked down the steps to their seats. Haiiden grinned when he noticed that Oobleck was too engrossed in his lecture to notice their arrival.

Zed shook his head, but then turned to look down at the rest of the class. His fears were reignited when he noticed that Blake sat beside Pyrrha in the front row of the hall. He lowered his head and his eyes darted from side to side as the thoughts of running came back. He felt something touch his arm and his body was pulled down onto a seat, with Haiiden smiling back at him. Zed flashed a smile in return, this one was fake however, and they both began to watch Oobleck as he continued his lecture. He lowered his head to keep himself from being singled out by Oobleck and not to be seen by Blake.

Haiiden noticed this from the corner of his eye and looked at Zed. The position he was in, his facial expression, conflated to make him look like he was sick. Zed looked up to see that Haiiden had placed a hand on his shoulder. Zed began to wince as Haiiden used the hand with his clawed gauntlet as it began to dig in to his skin.

Vaughn then let out a deep breath as he put his feet on the desk while leaning back in his seat. He watched Oobleck continue his lecture, but he wasn't paying attention. Instead, he thought about how the problems between his sister and Haiiden had been seemingly resolved.

"Yes, some humans were very adamant to hold on to their traditions and feared that accepting the Faunus would somehow change that!" Oobleck explained to the class. He paused for a moment to take a sip of his coffee, which gave him another boost of energy, as evidenced by his zipping back in forth in front of the board behind him, and quickly pointing to each key marking on the map with his rod as he spoke.

"Professor Oobleck?" A student raised her hand.

Oobleck zipped up to her, leaning his face in close to hers. " _Doctor_ Oobleck. I didn't earn this Ph.D for fun, you know, thank-you-very-much!" He paused. "Now, what is your question?"

" _Another lecture on the Faunus I see…"_ Zed thought with a chuckle as he tried to keep up with Oobleck's movements, and attempted to make a game out of it to distract himself from his thoughts.

"But others saw the Faunus as vermin, who either had to be eradicated or forcibly relocated! Since no one was cruel or insane enough to actually suggest worldwide extermination, the most 'logical' course of action was to move them to Menagerie!" The students continued to watch and some began to hold their necks in pain as they could no longer track Oobleck's movements.

"However, moving them proved difficult, as many did resist. One of the many concerns were that living spaces were too small! Due to their large population in proportion to the size of Menagerie as well as the threat of the Grimm, which we know plagues all of us, The Faunus struggled to live there as a result of these two glaring issues!" Zed began to think on the name "Menagerie" and began to furrow his brow as he continued to dwell on it. After a while of thinking on the subject, he then banished the thoughts as it began to tread into dangerous territory.

"Yes, yes! Prior to the 'Faunus Rights Revolution'. More popularly known as the 'Faunus War', Humankind was quite, QUITE adamant on centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie." He then stopped to take another sip of his coffee and was obviously unaware that part of his shirt had become untucked, and was hanging out. Zed smiled as he continued to watch, finding this a bit amusing and hoped it would continue to distract him. When Oobleck had finished taking a sip, he practically teleported in front of the class which made some students jump out of their seats.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the 'repercussions' of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" Haiiden chuckled quietly as Oobleck took another sip of his brew, needing more energy to keep his lecture going. Some of the students were getting tired from trying to keep up with Oobleck, especially Jaune, who had fallen asleep at his desk at the bottom tier of the classroom.

"Now, have any among you been subjugated or discriminated due to your Faunus heritage?" Zed stopped breathing upon hearing the Doctor's question. He looked back and forth for a moment as the room seemed to freeze around him. He repeated the question in his mind as he looked down at Blake, furrowing his brow angrily as he noticed that she hadn't raised her hand. Then he noticed something from the corner of his eye which made his heart sink. He saw a pair of bunny ears in the front row, and realized that Velvet was sitting alone in the class, and without her team again. He remembered telling her that she should speak with Ozpin about her classes, to try and pair her with her team.

Ozpin did try his best to fix it, but there were still some times where she had to split up with her comrades. Zed immediately felt ashamed for not going down to meet her and give her company while also feeling disgusted that he had taken such great lengths to avoid Blake that he hadn't even noticed Velvet. It seemed like minutes to Zed even though he knew that only seconds had gone by, and he realized that Velvet had also not raised her hand. He knew how she was being tormented by Cardin, and the fact that she didn't raise her hand left him saddened.

" _Don't worry. You aren't alone,"_ He sighed and looked up into Oobleck's eyes. Although Oobleck wasn't looking directly up at him due to his scanning the room for the first hand to go up, Zed still wanted to think that the Doctor still knew he was there and he raised his hand. Velvet looked back nervously as she noticed Oobleck's gaze had switched to Zed and saw that his hand was up. She swallowed and mustered just enough courage to raise her hand as well.

"Dreadful! Simply dreadful! Remember, students: it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He paused to take another sip of his coffee, and this time Vaughn couldn't help but chuckle.

"I swear. What is _in_ that stuff?" He whispered to Haiiden.

"No idea. During the summer, when I was helping him with fieldwork, he let me try some." He said with a raised brow and took a deep breath as he remembered the godawful taste. Vaughn responded by taking a deep breath of his own and covered his mouth to hide his fake shock, and remembered when he was helping with Oobleck at the start of the year, when the new students went on their trials, how Oobleck asked him to refill his thermos and he'd pondered whether or not he should taste it, but had decided not to.

"My God! How are you still alive?" He said again and let out a laugh that he quickly muffled.

"No idea, but I honestly felt something die inside," he responded, and they both began to chuckle, while trying to hide it from Oobleck. Zed however, quickly raised a hand to the both of them to signal them to keep quiet which was coupled with a loud "Shh!"

"I mean- I MEAN!- I mean- Just look at what happened to the 'White Fang'! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me, what MANY theorists believed to be the turning point of the third year of the war?" At that moment Oobleck's attention was redirected to another student who had raised her hand in the air. The lecture on the Faunus and White Fang had discouraged Zed at this point. He took a deep breath as he thought to himself again and gave up trying to keep the thoughts out.

"The Battle at Fort Castle," responded a student who Zed recognized as obviously female. This would normally have him looking up to eye the potential beauty, but at that moment he just didn't care.

"Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General LeGume's forces?" He then rushed in towards Jaune as quickly as he had just finished asking the question. Jaune was sitting and scratching the back of his head while Oobleck leaned in to meet him face to face, literally.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent, EXCELLENT! What is the answer!?" He asked Jaune while staring at him.

"Uhhh… the answer…" Jaune responded nervously.

" _Night vision. The answer is night vision, Jaune."_ Zed thought to himself, his mind still in the class despite him also being in his own world. Letting out a sigh while he waited, he hoped that Jaune could read his mind.

"The… advantage he had… over that guy's… stuff… Ummm, Binoculars!" Jaune answered, and Zed let out a groan while covering his face with his hand as the classroom erupted in to laughter at Jaune's attempt to answer, but Zed and his team kept quiet.

" _Close enough, Jaune."_

Oobleck took another sip of his brew while Cardin was laughing in front of HAVC just two tiers lower than them. Vaughn and Haiiden were eyeing him as he laughed loudly; Zed didn't bother to look up, but instead tightened his fists.

" _Keep laughing, you sodding wanker."_

"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?" Oobleck said loudly as he singled out Cardin after noticing his obnoxious laughter, which was directed at Jaune.

Zed laughed to himself, taking this as some a form of karma as Cardin probably didn't know the answer, either.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier," Cardin said with a grin.

Vaughn and Haiiden's eyes widened in surprise, and they nervously shifted their gaze to Zed. They noticed that his eyes were widened as well, but it was in anger, and his eyes were turning fiery orange. His arm was shaking as he continued to tighten his fist, causing his knuckles to bulge through his leather gloves; he seethed through his teeth as he slowly rose up in his chair to sit upright. Haiiden sighed as he began to empathize with his friend and put a hand on his arm to try to comfort him. Zed jumped at this sudden contact, but then remembered where he was and who he was with. He blinked a few more times and looked down while slowly raising an arm to put it on Haiiden's shoulder. His eyes went back to their usual green, and he continued to watch as the class progressed.

"You are not the most open minded of individuals, are you Cardin?" Pyrrha asked loudly, one of the few people who wasn't afraid of him, but despite her fearlessness, it would take more than that to get him to open his eyes.

"What? You got a problem?" Cardin called her out as he took offense to her comment.

"No. I have the answer. It's night vision." Zed then nodded with a smile upon hearing her answer. His usual grin was slowly creeping on to his face.

"Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." Pyrrha finished; Cardin made an audible grunt as he became annoyed that Pyrrha had embarrassed him in front of the class.

"General LeGume was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep," Zed then jumped upon hearing Blake add to Pyrrha's answer. Haiiden turned his head with a curious expression to look back to Zed and began to eye him nervously.

"Zed, you alright?" he asked quietly, as he continued to notice Zed's expression changing from anger, then to sadness, repeatedly.

" _Now you speak. When it is safe for you, that is when you speak,"_ Zed began to seethe again but stopped himself. Haiiden reacted by giving him a quick shake to which Zed turned back to give a smile.

"His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured. Perhaps if he had been paying attention in class, he wouldn't be remembered for being such a failure," Cardin angrily got up and tightened his fists at the comment, which was also directed at him. Zed scoffed before crossing his arms in front of him.

" _Not bad, mate. Kitty still got claws, it seems."_

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." Oobleck said with a hint of disamusement, which made Zed chuckle to himself as the Doctor seemed bored by it. It was an interesting contrast to his usual high energy personality.

"You and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional readings."

"Aww," Jaune groaned as the Doctor quickly switched gears to continue with his lecture.

"Now! Moving on!"

* * *

Team HAVC and part of JNPR were sitting together for dinner at the end of their classes. Pyrrha had stayed behind to wait for Jaune to be finished with Doctor Oobleck, while Nora and Ren went with HAVC to eat. Nora ate noisily while Ren sat quietly next to her. He occasionally nodded his head in response to Nora as she continued to talk. Cecilia had finally joined up with the rest of her team and was sitting quietly while listening to Nora.

"So then, I shot him with my launcher! And won the match!" she said excitedly, while explaining the details of a sparring match against another student.

"She fell down and it discharged on accident," Ren corrected her as he took a sip from his drink.

"Still shot him though!" she added with a smile.

HAVC replied with smiles of their own, partly due to the conclusion of her story but also as a reaction to her enthusiasm. Zed was still in his own world, but his mind was somewhat in the conversation as he also smiled at the end of the tale. Haiiden started to become worried as he noticed Zed going back and forth between reality and his thoughts.

"So, now that things seem to be less awkward, what happened last week?" Nora asked as she leaned forward on the table. Her face was inching closer to Haiiden and Cecilia while turning her head to look back and forth between the both of them. At first, they both were confused but Haiiden then took a deep breath as he realized what she was asking.

" _I was hoping that the rest of the team would be here, but I guess I can tell them now,"_ Haiiden thought as he was opening his mouth to speak.

"You see," Cecilia said, cutting off Haiiden. He looked back and sighed. A part of him knew that she wanted to reveal what he had done; her speaking up now was not unexpected.

"Back when I was in the Atlesian military, I was used to being the one in charge," she said with a tilt of her head while looking Nora and Ren in the eyes. Haiiden stared with his eyes widened in confusion.

"When our team was announced last year, I became angry when I realized I was not going to be the leader. I am sure you have noticed how I have been acting during this semester," she turned back to look at Haiiden, flinching when he realized that she was looking at him dead in the eyes.

" _Why are you doing this?"_ he thought.

"Well, I am sure Ozpin knew what he was doing," Ren replied and got up with Nora. Cecilia nodded her head and watched as the two got up.

"I think it's time to head in for the night," he said before turning to Nora, only to see her respond with a quick hop, then with a long and drawn-out yawn. Cecilia looked back and responded with a nod, as well as a smile, waving them goodnight. She turned back to look Haiiden in the eye once more before breaking contact and getting up as well.

"I think it's time for us to head up as well," she said as she stood and waited for Haiiden and Zed to join. Haiiden watched as she and her brother got up before turning around to see if Zed was still acting strangely. He had seemed to be zoning out the whole day, and thought it was just the stress from school. However, something felt different this time, and he couldn't just let it go.

"You go on. I'm just going to sit with Zed for a bit." As he said that, Zed raised his head when his name was mentioned. He looked back between Cecilia and Haiiden, wondering who uttered his name. Haiiden turned back to Zed and patted him on the shoulder to let him know that it was him. Cecilia stood for a few moments and chuckled to herself before motioning for Vaughn to follow.

"Of course, sir. We will see you back at the dorm, then," she said with a smile before walking away with her brother following behind her. Haiiden watched as they disappeared from view and shook his head while Zed laughed to himself.

"She seems to be doing better," he pointed out while he slowly laid his head back on the table and closed his eyes, beginning to think again.

"But now the roles seem to be reversed." Haiiden mumbled in response.

"Hmm?" Zed looked at Haiiden from the corner of his eye, curious as to what he was saying under his breath.

"What's up? You've been moody all day, Zed," Haiiden replied while he placed an elbow on the table and leaned in closer. Zed let out a groan as he also put an elbow on the table, placing a palm against his cheek.

"Don't worry about it," he replied with a grin and a quick shake of his head.

"No. No, I _am_ going to worry. This isn't the 'grinning lover boy' that I know," Haiiden continued with an intense stare, showing a concern for his friend.

"Just one of those days, man."

"One of those-?" Haiiden asked with a dumbstruck expression, but stopped himself as he seemed to flinch in his seat. Zed took a deep breath and turned his head away to avoid looking at him.

"Zed, did you just lie to me? You never get 'one of those days,'" Haiiden said again but this time with a wince. The idea that his friend would lie to him had hurt him and he swallowed back as he awaited a response from Zed. Zed was instead looking down at the table, not wanting to respond to him as Haiiden would probably keep probing for more answers.

"I promise I will tell you another time," he responded without looking up at Haiiden, fearful of how he would react. Haiiden was taken aback by this, still stunned that his friend would lie, and was now keeping secrets.

" _But this time I'm not lying."_

* * *

Cecilia and Vaughn continued down the hall to their dorm, passing by other dorms that held their friends and other teams. They'd stop occasionally to make small talk with people they knew before continuing toward their own dorm. Vaughn was thinking back to what had happened in the dining hall, wondering why Cecilia would hide what had happened with Haiiden before and during their duel.

"Why did you do that?" He asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a cold tone while trying to act dumb, but knew what he asking about.

"Why didn't you tell them?" he asked again, this time cutting her off by stopping in front of her. She looked back with an exasperated expression, while wondering where this was coming from. He had always walked side by side with her in everything that she did; never questioning her motives, although he did voice his own concerns from time to time.

"They didn't need to know," she replied while pushing past her brother and continuing down the hall.

"That's mature of you," he said while turning around and rushing to catch up with her.

"Maturity had nothing to do with it," she responded with a slight growl, trying to intimidate her brother into dropping the subject.

"You held such a grudge at the beginning of the year and threw fits whenever you could. Why didn't you just tell them?" he continued while she held her head up high, insulted by how Vaughn was describing her, which made her feel like a child. But then she remembered back to what Ozpin had told her back in the office and she looked back down at her hand.

"I thought you had forgiven him."

"I have," she answered quietly while looking around her to make sure no one else was listening.

"However I still feel he is unfit to lead. For other reasons," she flexed her fingers and sighed to herself.

* * *

( **Earlier that day** )

Cecilia was breathing heavily after explaining the vision she had received after touching Haiiden. Her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to make sense of it. She looked up at Ozpin when she had given up, seeing if he had any answers. As she made eye contact, all she received was a cold stare from Glynda while Ozpin advanced towards her slowly, calmly.

"Go back to your classes. Tell no one of what you saw."


	12. Vol 1: Chapter 12

( **Two days after Chapter Eleven** )

Haiiden charged at his opponent, Pyrrha Nikos, and swung his blade up in an attempt to make an opening in her defense. He knew it was risky, as the wind up was long and elaborate, and left him wide open. He had hoped that in doing so it would give his opponent a sense of overconfidence and she would then come at him to attack. However, she did not take the bait, and instead went on the defensive and brought her shield up to deflect his slash. Haiiden used the momentum gained from her deflection to spin to the right and jumped over her counter attack, which narrowly missed his greaves as the attack came in lightning fast. Her speed and stamina outmatched Haiiden's, which left him feeling frightened and desperate.

He then decided that offense wouldn't work, as he didn't know enough about his opponent to attack without it somehow being turned against him. He stepped back again as she swung her spear at him another time. This time, he stomped his foot on the floor to brace himself and blocked her attack with his clawed gauntlet. As the blade and gauntlet both connected, he guided the attack to the right and thrust his blade towards her. She leaned back just enough for his sword to miss her and again left himself open again as his arm was outstretched. She brought her shield to slam it against his elbow and a jolt of pain shot through his arm. The attack made him reel his arm back and for a second he almost didn't notice that she had thrust her spear at him. He got on one knee and leaned back, her blade just missing his nose by inches, but she quickly retaliated and kicked him in the shoulder.

The force of the kick made him fall back, but he quickly regained his balance and rolled over backwards, and onto his feet. Out of frustration, he charged at Pyrrha and started to swing. Using the momentum from each swing and utilizing his other arm as a counter balance to allow himself to spin with every attack; this did no good, however, as each attack either just scratched her armor or missed entirely. As he brought his sword in low for another slash, she kicked his hand away and brought down her blade to counter. He quickly reacted and caught the blade in his gauntlet and tightened his grip. As soon as he caught the blade, she took the edge of her shield and struck it against his cheek.

The strike knocked him to the right, but he instinctively brought up his blade to block the next incoming attack. As he turned to face her again, he realized that he had made a fatal mistake: he had misjudged the trajectory of her attack, thinking that she was going to swing low. Only then did he realize that she changed the direction of her attack and the blade stopped just an inch from his neck.

"And with that, Pyrrha is the winner," announced Glynda as she signaled the end of the sparring match. The students in attendance began to applaud wildly, with the exception of Teams HAVC and CRDL.

"Dammit!" Haiiden said to himself with a sigh and slumped his shoulders as the fight had left him fatigued and breathing in ragged, heavy gulps of air.

"That was pretty good!" Pyrrha congratulated him as she bowed respectfully towards her opponent. Haiiden looked up and scoffed at her compliment, but then bowed in return.

"I barely even touched you," he said as he stood up straighter, trying to make it look like he was fine despite him being tired. "'The Invincible Girl.' The name fits you well, Pyrrha." He said again with a smile. He had always wanted to try his hand against the legendary Pyrrha Nikos, but his overconfidence made him forget about her reputation. " _At least now, I know what I am up against._ "

"Come on, you weren't that bad." She shrugged and motioned for him to follow. The fatigue left him a little dizzy, and he had become so engrossed in the match that he had forgotten that he was on the stage in Glynda's Assembly Hall. His mind snapped to attention and he followed Pyrrha off the stage. They walked through the side of the throng of classmates, and met up with their teams: JNPR and HAVC. However, Jaune was not with his team, and was nowhere to be seen.

"If it means anything to you, I had to try harder than usual for that win," Pyrrha said as she thought that would help perk up Haiiden, who looked up at her with a curious expression, and scanned her face to see if she was being sincere. She wasn't sweating like he was; she wasn't showing signs of fatigue or soreness like he was, either.

"Thanks for the kind words, I guess," he responded as he looked away. He wasn't really upset at the loss, as he had made it known that he wanted to try and fight her sometime. He knew it was his fault that he had underestimated her, and that he had forgotten about who she really was. " _That won't happen again, the next time we meet in battle._ "

He looked back to his team to see what their reactions were to the fight. He thought that they would express disappointment, but to his surprise, their feelings seemed different than he had expected. They instead were a more than a tad impressed, with Vaughn looking from the corner of his eye and giving him a thumbs up.

"I mean no offense, sir, but it was universally expected that Pyrrha would win. We're just surprised that you managed to stay up as long as you did," Cecilia told him as she continued to watch the next sparring match. However, he noticed that a smile began to crack from the corner of her mouth.

"And any man who can last that long with 'The Invincible Girl' is amazing in my book. We were all expecting a bodge job; you were jammy," Zed announced in his Northern accent as he slammed a hand down on Haiiden's shoulder. Haiiden leaned his head back and stared at Zed with a smile. Pyrrha laughed to herself quietly while Cecilia covered her face with her palm rather forcefully.

"Zed, do you ever think before you speak?" Cecilia asked, with Vaughn snickering to himself as he finally realized how everyone else interpreted the comment.

"Nope. I just wing it and see where it goes from there," Zed replied with a shrug as well as a grin. Cecilia rolled her eyes at the comment, and Vaughn shook his head while crossing his arms. Haiiden, however, wasn't finding any amusement in this exchange. He stared at Zed while he watched the next sparring match, and what had happened a couple days ago was still fresh in his mind, and he had thought that Zed would have finally told him what had been bothering him. So far, he had not.

" _I promise I will tell you another time_." That sentence kept ringing in his mind, especially since the subject was never raised again, as he wanted Zed to be the one to bring it up. There was clearly something wrong, Haiiden felt that for sure. The fact that he never brought it up after he promised that he would tell Haiiden was starting to wear on his nerves.

" _Was this what he wanted? For me to just forget?"_

The fact that he seemed to be fine now was making Haiiden wonder if he was pretending. Then he realized something else: if he was pretending now-

" _Then how long has he been hiding this, and what else could he be hiding?_ " As he thought to himself he realized that Zed was looking back at him now. As they made eye contact, Haiiden flinched, which also startled Zed.

"Ace. It's still just me," he whispered and put his arm around his friend. Haiiden was embarrassed at this point and had a sheepish smile as he looked down.

" _Nah… It's Zed. He wouldn't lie to me."_

"Winner," announced Glynda as she signaled the end of the next match. The students began to clap as the contestants made their way off the stage. JNPR and HAVC joined in while they watched the next contestants moved into position. Haiiden noticed that, standing at the bottom of the stairs to the stage was Nadira from team CNBR. He then noticed Nora and Ren standing at the opposite stairs.

"Come on Ren! Let's finish this quickly!" she said while rubbing his shoulders, and he flinched a little as she applied too much pressure to his shoulders.

"I know, Nora," he replied as he tried to make some final adjustments and checks to his weapons. He pulled on the slide barrel of his pistols and SMG combos, making sure that everything was fine and that he had maximum ammo in his clips.

"If you win, I will take you out! My treat!" she told him, this time hopping and clapping in excitement.

"How are you going to treat me to anything?" he asked as the bolt slid back into place with a click, then ran his finger and thumb along the blade that extended downward from the end of the barrel. The blade emanated a harmonic vibration that rung out a little as his fingers gently slid down its edge. "You're always broke," he said finally, as the blades collapsed and his weapons shot up into his sleeves, courtesy of their spring-loaded sleeve holsters.

"Hmmm," Nora hummed loudly as she thought to herself for a bit. "I know! You'll give me money!" she exclaimed and clapped her hands while she hopped on place.

"But how is that treating me?" Ren asked with a raised brow while his back was still facing Nora.

"You give me money," she replied and reached to poke him on the nose. "Boop." He leaned back and tried to look at his nose, then rubbed it as it tingled from the slight contact. "And I use that money to treat you! Silly!" she finished with a cheery smile, while standing on one leg and struck a pose. "Wee!"

Ren stood, dumbfounded, trying to figure out the logic behind it before giving up. Ren wondered to himself as to why he even bothered to try and apply logic to any of Nora's notions. In the end, it was her weirdness that made him stick by her, and the fact that she clung to him, often literally. The moment was interrupted as footfalls could be heard ascending the stairs on the opposite side of the stage. Ren looked up to see that Nadira was already standing and was ready for her opponent. Ren took a deep breath and likewise ascended the stairs, then stopped as he reached the top.

"I wonder how this is going to turn out," Vaughn wondered aloud as Pyrrha and HAVC watched Ren step on to the stage and face Nadira. Cecilia turned to face Pyrrha as she watched with her arms crossed. Noticing that Cecilia was facing her, she turned to make eye contact as she was curious as to what she wanted.

"Has Ren been working on his stamina?" Cecilia asked.

Pyrrha then responded with a shake of her head and Cecilia winced as she looked back toward the stage. "He'll need to finish this quickly, then," Pyrrha added, looking on with a worried expression.

"He is pretty quick, though," Zed replied.

Nadira stood and stared at Ren from across the stage while he looked back at her. Some expected maybe an exchange of words or taunts. However, as the quietest students in the school, it came as no surprise to anyone that nothing was said between them. Nadira quickly pulled out two dirks from the belt over her chest and spun them in her hands, stopping the blades so that she was holding them in a way so that the blade extended just past her little fingers. She held her arms as if she was ready to fight hand-to-hand, but combined it with knife-play.

One hand was closer to her chest for defense, while the other was extended for offense. She slid one foot back to brace herself and was readied to charge, but waited for her opponent to be ready. Ren, likewise, slid his foot in a semi-circle to his right, and extended his arms so as to take a position similar to the serpent style of martial arts, no doubt part of his Eastern heritage. Like Nadira, he held one arm closer to himself and the other extended. The difference was that both hands were for offense, instead of one being for defense. Both of Ren's hands would ostensibly alternate to attack quickly.

Nadira was the first to charge, and spun around to gain energy for her first attack. Swinging her arm behind her, she slashed for his legs to try and hamstring him early on. He quickly stepped back and attempted to counter, but noticed that she brought her arm back to spin faster as her other arm shot up to try and slash at him again. He backed away once more, but not very far, as the dirk managed to cut a couple of strands of his hair.

He stepped forward after her attack and countered with a kick to the side of her right knee. The attack forced her to stagger to her left and she knew that she was going to fall, so she rolled to her left while trying to slash at him again, and this attack caught him off-guard. With only a split second to think, Ren realized that he had to roll with the attack to keep himself from losing the ability to maneuver. He leaned back and planted his hand on the stage and then raised his legs to avoid the slash. As she swung, she realized the attempt would miss, and aborted the swing mid-move.

Jumping back quickly with a handspring, Ren landed on his feet after the flip, and as his feet made contact with the ground, he kicked off and charged towards Nadira. She turned to see that he was already just a couple feet away from her, and changed her stance to a more defensive one. He went for a quick palm strike to her ribs, but she swung her arm down to slap it away. She tried to counter with a punch, but he caught her by the wrist and twisted it to make an opening. She used her free arm to try and punch him again, and this time Ren knew he couldn't get out of the way. He was too close to her, and if he were to try and dodge, his only option would be to dodge in the direction of the dirk. The hit connected and made him stagger to the right, but he used the strike to wind up for a kick behind her legs.

The kick was successful, forcing Nadira to lose her footing, but she quickly twisted her body, landing on her hands and using the momentum to push her body into a handstand. Continuing her spin, she countered Ren's blow with a kick of her own, her foot connecting with Ren's face before she catapulted from her hands back to her feet. As he regained his stance and composure, his weapons sprung from his sleeves as he turned and began to fire non-lethal Dust rounds at her. She blocked the initial burst with her dirks, but knew she couldn't block them all. She leaned back as more bullets flew past her and began to retreat with a series of backflips. As Ren continued to fire, the barrel of one of his guns exploded and left him momentarily stunned.

He was left confused as he was sure that there were no problems with his weapons. Wondering to himself as to what could have caused the explosion, he quickly glanced down to see that a small knife, about the size and width of a finger was jammed into the barrel. His attention returned to the battle just in time to up to notice a barrage of similar blades flying towards him. He gasped as this attack left him surprised and unprepared, and he jumped back to avoid the barrage. The finger sized blades clattered to the ground at his feet.

He looked up, expecting to see her charging for him, but instead saw nothing. At the last moment. He spotted her in the air, her hand grazing over the cloth that was wrapped around her arm. From the cloth, she pulled out more of the tiny throwing knives and quickly launched more at him. He rushed forward, which Nadira didn't expect, and threw off her aim as each of the knives missed their marks. As she landed, she threw one of her dirks at him, which Ren quickly slapped away with a bare palm. As Nadira tried to quickly replenish her free hand by grabbing another dirk from her belt, Ren had already closed the distance and caught her. He grabbed her arm and twisted it, sending a shock of pain up her arm, and making her lose focus.

With an open palm, Ren thrust his hand at the bridge of Nadira's nose. She was able to nearly nullify the force of the attack by leaning her head back, but the strike still left her a little dazed, which Ren took advantage of by bringing her head down onto his knee. After her head snapped back from the blow, she put a leg behind Ren's and brought it down so that it forced him onto one knee. Jumping back up quickly, she then stepped on to his thigh and jumped behind him, reversing the situation, and now she was the one twisting his arm. He tried to get back up, but she threw a punch at the back of his head. As her arm lowered after the attack, she tried to bring her arm back up and with her dirk in hand, she would end the fight by forcing Ren to back down after placing her blade to his throat.

With a fluid motion that seemed quite natural to him, he dodged the attack by leaning back and the dirk passed inches from his nose. He planted a hand onto the stage from and flipped back, with Nadira going for another attack to finish the match quickly. She swung with her right arm, which Ren guided away and countered with a thrust of his right arm. As it connected with her body, she was forced away by a light that exploded underneath his hand. Using his Aura, he managed to turn his natural field into a weapon, and as both of their Auras interacted, they caused a rebounding force that launched Nadira into the air.

She landed roughly, rolled once, and quickly planted her feet on the stage as she slid to a stop. Getting up and looking behind her, she noticed that she was mere inches from the edge, almost ending the match in an "out of bounds" victory. She got ready to charge again but a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Enough," Glynda announced and the class began to applaud.

"Well done. As both of your Auras are in the red, there is not enough information to really determine a winner, though, so this will end in a draw," she pointed out, and then looked down to input some data into her Scroll. "Next time, you two, try harder."

Nadira put away her dirks and collected her knives while looking at Glynda, in what seemed to be frustration. After a few moments, she looked back to Ren and bowed respectfully, and then left the stage. Ren left the stage as well and when he reached the bottom, he quickly fell and began to take deep breaths.

"It's okay Ren." Nora said as she knelt down next to him and slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Even though it wasn't a win, I'll still take you out." She said with a sincere and dopey smile.

He continued to take gulping breaths as the fight and the use of his Aura had left him fatigued. He shook his head at Nora's offer and, despite him being tired, he still found humor in her words and chuckled to himself.

* * *

After Glynda's class, HAVC and Pyrrha met up at the dining hall in Beacon. Ren and Nora left for a while to bring back some food from the restaurants in Vale, returning shortly to eat with everyone else. While they ate, Haiiden noticed that Pyrrha was staring at something. At first, he thought she was staring at him as their eyes seemed to have connected. However, as she didn't react from Haiiden making eye contact, he realized that she was looking at something behind him. After turning around to see what it was that had her attention, he noticed that Jaune was sitting with Team CRDL, rather than his teammates.

"Huh," was all that Haiiden managed to get out, which got the attention of the rest of the group. Everyone looked back to see that Jaune was sitting with CRDL, with Cardin's arm resting on his shoulder.

"Since when did they start eating together?" Vaughn asked Pyrrha, and the question made her furrow her brow and she tightened her fists. She didn't reply to the question.

"Shame," Cecilia muttered and shook her head in disappointment. "Thought that he would have chosen a better group of friends."

Zed stared for a bit and sighed to himself. He didn't like seeing team CRDL laughing after tripping a Faunus girl that had just passed by, and watched as Jaune laughed nervously with them. He could tell that the laugh was not genuine; it was forced and awkward, but he was angry nonetheless. " _Bugger off, Jaune,_ " he thought to himself.

"I had such high hopes for the moppet, too," Zed finally added while shaking his head and looking away; he couldn't watch anymore. Haiiden continued to stare, worried that this was what it felt like to his teammates when he had dropped out of Beacon; he wondered if this was the abandonment that his team felt when they realized that he had left. He looked back to Zed to see that he was lost in his thoughts, not unlike the way he was a couple of days ago. He then turned to face Cecilia and Vaughn, making eye contact with her momentarily before she looked away. Haiiden thought for a bit and wondered if he should say something.

"I am sure he will bounce back," Haiiden said with an awkward smile as even he had started to feel that Jaune was now a lost cause. Pyrrha turned her attention towards him now, her expression changing from disappointment to concern. "He comes from a good family. I am sure that if he came here to be like the others in his line, then he will come to know that what he is doing is wrong."

Pyrrha stared for a few moments before breaking eye contact and reluctantly nodded her head. "I hope that is the case," was all that she managed to say and the moment was then interrupted as HAVC's personal Scrolls pinged, indicating a message had come in.

" _Oh thank God,_ " Haiiden thought to himself as the atmosphere had become almost unbearably awkward, and he was hoping that something would allow him to escape. He looked down to read the message and froze as he continued reading. The vagueness of the message left him confused and he looked up to see what his team thought. They all had similar expressions, and they all slowly got up while shooting a look to their Scrolls, then back to one another.

"We have to go, guys. Ozpin is asking for us to meet him," Haiiden told Team JNPR. Ren gave his usual response, by giving a polite nod while Nora continued to eat happily. Pyrrha didn't acknowledge them, having turned her attention back to her team's leader. Haiiden knew that he said what he had to say, and knew that nothing else could help alleviate the betrayal they felt at the situation.

"I'll meet you at the office, guys," Zed said uncomfortably. "I've got to go spend a penny, first." With that, he headed off toward the restrooms.

* * *

HAVC finally met in front of the door to the Headmaster's office. Haiiden took a deep breath, while Zed came trotting up as he fixed his hair, and the twins buttoned the collars on their uniforms. After each of his teammates gave the okay, Haiiden knocked on the door and it opened with Glynda on the other side of it. She left it wide open and allowed the team to come in, then shut it behind them. As they walked towards Ozpin's desk, Haiiden noticed that Glynda wasn't moving away from the door but instead stood in front of it, almost as if she was guarding it. He turned back to see that Ozpin was sitting straight in his chair with his hands clasped together in front of him. The team finally stopped in front of him and clicked their heels at attention.

"Sir!" They all said loudly and in unison. Ozpin watched for a few moments, and then looked behind them to nod at Glynda, who in turn nodded and turned off the lights. The room went dark, and the only illumination was coming from the windows, which slowly began to dim as they became opaque. They all looked back at each other but then were startled as a crackling could be heard as a video feed appeared on the window. After a few moments, the image of Ironwood appeared as well as the silhouette of a representative from the Council of Vale. The moment Haiiden placed his eyes on Ironwood, his body tensed up and his fists tightened. He gritted his teeth with such force, they felt like they were going to break at any moment.

Ironwood had a surprised expression as he looked down at his own monitor, which made it hard to figure out what caused his surprise.

"Cecilia and Vaughn Sceryei?" he asked in a tone that made it seem like even he was unsure what just came out of his mouth.

"Captain. Or should I say General?" Cecilia replied and both she and her brother saluted Ironwood together.

"Ah. You have both grown a lot since I last saw you," he said with a smile but then it faded as he continued to look at the monitor. "I am sorry for leaving you in that hell, I'll have you know that the Major was severely reprimanded for the way he ran Saint Alban's."

"It's alright, sir. What we took away from that situation was that, if he hadn't run it as harshly as he did, we wouldn't be the fighters we are today," Cecilia replied, but from what Haiiden saw when Vaughn told him this story, it seemed hard for them to even bring it up. He wondered if the reason why they didn't blame him was because they thought it wasn't his fault, or perhaps they were merely showing respect for his rank.

"At least something good came out of it," Ironwood remarked. "I've reviewed the records of your combat performance in the field, and may I say how well you handled the mission with Colonel Sceryei. I fully agree with your actions. We are soldiers, not murderers. You earned that Star Cross that day, Lieutenant Sceryei, not a discharge."

"'We 'were' soldiers, sir." Cecilia corrected.

"Of course," Ironwood replied simply, and his attention changed to what Haiiden guessed was Haiiden himself. The hint was the sudden change in his expression, flashing from worry to nervousness for a moment before straightening his posture and clearing his throat. "Haiiden."

"General Ironwood," Haiiden growled.

"How are you doing?" Ironwood asked with sincerity in his voice. However, Haiiden didn't respond and instead gave a cold stare into the screen, wishing that he was in front of Ironwood right now.

"Can we finally begin?" the representative interrupted after a long moment of silence, his voice dark and harsh.

"Please," Ironwood replied and cleared his throat before looking back up at his monitor. "We have a mission for you, Team HAVC."

"No," Haiiden immediately said and shook his head. Cecilia quickly glanced at Haiiden before turning back to the monitor.

"Wait. What mission?" she inquired.

"Against those terrorists: The White Fang," the representative answered

"Terrorists?" Haiiden asked loudly. His eyes were widened and he resumed his glare in Ironwood's direction, wondering if that was the word that he had chosen to describe them.

"With all due respect, we won't be used as the military's hit-men again," Vaughn said loudly and with Cecilia nodding in agreement with her brother.

"You don't have much of a choice!" The representative replied with a similar harshness as before.

"I _do_ have a choice, and I choose no! I'm not doing you any favors!" Haiiden yelled out, but it wasn't directed at the representative, it was at Ironwood. The man stared into the monitor and into Haiiden's eyes. Ozpin then sensed that the meeting was getting out of hand, and raised his hands as he began to motion for everyone to calm down.

"We'll do it," Zed answered suddenly. Haiiden quickly turned his head and stared wide-eyed at him. Vaughn and Cecilia stepped forward to look at him as well, expressing equal surprise.

"Then that settles it," the representative responded, this time the harshness was not there and although the details of his face were blocked, you could see him turn his gaze to another monitor.

"I'll leave you to make the preparations with Lipesce," the monitor then cut off and Ironwood's image enlarged to fill the empty space.

"Hold on. I lead the team, don't I have any say in this?" he asked Ozpin, who responded with a shake of his head.

"Think of this as your early mission for the year. I promise, it will count towards your grade," Ozpin answered calmly.

"Screw that! I'm not doing anything for Ironwood!" Haiiden yelled out and Vaughn looked curiously at him; remembering his comment about Ironwood when he told the story of his and Cecilia's upbringing.

"Then do it for Mistral," Ozpin responded, and now his voice was harsh. "I am in charge of security for this year's Vytal Festival; I need to deal with security concerns on a far larger scale than just Vale." Haiiden's shoulders slumped and sighed as he covered his face.

"I guess I wasn't needed after all. I will take my leave," Ironwood said before his image cut from the screen and the windows began to turn back to normal, letting the last slivers of daylight into the room.

"The terrorist cell in Mistral is plotting a major attack. We can't let that happen." Ozpin told the team, his voice serene now, as he noticed that Haiiden had begun to calm down.

"Say no more. Team HAVC's got this," Zed replied and tightened strap on his glove, then pounded his fist into his palm.

"Then return to your dorm and rest up; you leave in the morning."


	13. Vol 1: Chapter 13

( **Ten minutes after Chapter 12** )

The door to Team HAVC's dorm slammed open as Haiiden stomped inside. His fists were tightened and he was holding his breath as he waited for the rest of his team to enter, waiting so that they could have privacy behind closed doors. For the first time since the semester began, Cecilia actually felt trepidation as she entered the dorm, as she noticed how he was acting. Vaughn was following behind his sister and they both sat down on her bed, watching their Captain. Finally, Zed entered the dorm and closed the door behind him quietly. He looked up at Haiiden as the door shut, and he stood tall, waiting for something to inevitably happen.

Haiiden finally exhaled after holding his breath for a long moment, but that only added to the growing tension in the room. Cecilia and Vaughn were eyeing both Haiiden and Zed, their attention switching back and forth between them as they waited to see who would speak first. Haiiden covered his face with his hands and held them there while he tried to find the right words to begin with. Zed stood with his arms crossed but with a look of concern on his face, waiting for someone to break the ice.

"Zed. What-?" was all Haiiden could manage. Zed merely shrugged in response and stood firmly in place. "This raises so many questions that I don't even know where to begin," Haiiden pointed out as he turned around to face him. "You've been acting differently lately, and now you bring us into a conflict that has absolutely nothing to do with us. Why?"

This was one of those moments where Zed didn't know how to respond. He was wondering if he should lie again, or try to tell the truth, one piece at a time. "They need us, Team HAVC, to bail them out of trouble," he told Haiiden with a fake smirk, to try and play at Haiiden's sense of confidence and duty, but Haiiden only responded with a shake of his head.

"No. You see how Ironwood acts in his interviews: always showing off the Atlesian Military as if it will one day replace the Huntsmen and Huntresses," Haiiden interjected.

"Psh. That will never happen," Zed replied, again with his smirk as he tried to play that off like he normally would.

"That's not the point. Let the military deal with this. I won't be doing that man _any_ favors." Haiiden responded.

"C'mon man—"

"NO! You know how much I hate him!" Haiiden took a step forward as he cut off Zed. Zed looked up at him with his eyes narrowed, but then it changed as he noticed that Haiiden's eyes began to turn red.

"I know, mate," Zed responded and lowered his gaze to avoid Haiiden's glowing, crimson eyes.

"Is this how it was with me?" Cecilia whispered to her brother, while keeping her eyes on her arguing teammates; the conflict made her genuinely curious.

"Nah. It was worse. More punches were thrown," Vaughn replied with a straight face while Cecilia punched him in the shoulder.

"I remember you making a jab at him before. How do you know him?" Vaughn asked as he reeled away from his sister after being struck. Haiiden turned and was at a loss for words as he tried to think for a bit. As he thought, his face turned blank for a few moments, the red in his eyes becoming more intense and Vaughn could feel a strange chill in the air.

"We- we have a history. That's all I will say," Haiiden replied as he suddenly snapped back into the conversation. Vaughn nodded and looked down as well, unable to hold his gaze. Haiiden took a deep breath and put his palm to his forehead as he began to pace back and forth in the dorm. His team silently watched while Zed still stood with his arms crossed, noticing the mix of emotions in his friend, ranging from anger to confusion.

"But if you knew, then why did you still agree to the mission?" Haiiden asked as he turned his attention back to Zed.

"Roman might be there," Zed said with a quiet sigh, deciding that trying to divert the conversation was no longer going to work. Haiiden looked at him, stunned, and began to sputter as he tried to speak.

"Roman? This is to find Roman?" Haiiden asked in disbelief.

"Who's 'Roman'?" Cecilia and Vaughn asked in unison. Zed wanted to speak, but Haiiden replied before he could.

"About three years back, Zed went on a trip with his dad. He is a businessman working for the Schnee Company," Haiiden answered.

"But isn't your dad a Faunus?" Cecilia asked, interrupting Haiiden in her curiosity. "You don't see many Faunus working for the Schnee's, at least, not outside of the Dust mines." As she asked, she noticed that Zed was now gritting his teeth angrily.

"It was to build a better image for the company. Diversity, you know," Zed responded with disgust and turned away for a moment. "Affirmative action."

Cecilia paused for a moment as she processed this information and nodded.

"Anyway, Roman was some crook that they were going to make an arrangement with. He ended up scamming them out of the deal which resulted in a lot of money and Dust being lost," as Haiiden continued to speak for Zed, he began to shift awkwardly in position and avoided eye contact with everyone.

"This, in turn, got his dad into a lot of trouble. If it weren't for the fact that he was such a good businessman, he would have surely been fired," Vaughn nodded slowly as he began to understand the situation, but then his expression changed as he realized something, something that Haiiden was also wondering about when Zed mentioned Roman.

"But why would he be in Mistral?" Cecilia asked, apparently wondering the same thing. Zed's gaze switched between everyone on his team, feeling pressed for an answer.

"I have friends who think he might be there," he said sheepishly and looked away as he spoke.

"So you don't even know that he's there?" Haiiden responded with a look of skepticism, and stepped closer. "In the end, I have to help Ironwood since you 'think' that Roman might be there?"

"Forget about Ironwood!" Zed snapped. The sudden outburst made Haiiden freeze, but as he regained composure he stared back at Zed, his eyes still red. Zed looked back with an equally intense stare, but his eyes still remained their usual green. This signaled to Haiiden that he wasn't angry. "Help _me_ instead."

Haiiden staggered in position, the sudden outburst and request for help had left him speechless.

"Don't do this for Ironwood or Mistral. Do it for me, as your friend," Zed continued and lowered his gaze as he finished. Haiiden's eyes reverted from red to silver almost instantly. He stood for a moment and swung his arms back and forth as he tried to find the right words to respond.

"I always thought of you more as a brother," he finally responded and when Zed heard this, his fox ears popped from out of his hair. His signature grin reappeared again, this time it wasn't forced or faked and he jumped to embrace his friend.

"You are right. Screw Ironwood," Haiiden said with a half-smile, feeling ashamed that he would take out his hate on his friend. Vaughn and his sister watched quietly, but something was still bugging Cecilia, as it did Vaughn.

"The White Fang is made up of all Faunus," Zed's smile disappeared as he turned to face Cecilia, curious as to what her point was. "Don't you feel uncomfortable fighting your own kind?"

"My kind? You make it sound like you and I are different," Zed replied.

"N-No, th-that's not what I meant," Cecilia stammered as she tried to reword what she had just said.

"Don't worry. I get it," Zed took a deep breath and sat down on the chair next to the desk in the corner of the room. Haiiden turned on the lights as the last glimmer of sunlight finally disappeared.

"The White Fang has done more against the Faunus than they have to actually help them." Zed crossed his arms and stared into the distance, realizing that perhaps he had said too much, he decided to roll with it anyways. "They claim that they fight for Faunus rights, but instead it makes the racism worse, as fear and mistrust of the Faunus spreads through the human population."

The room went quiet as everyone began to think about their conversation. Cecilia's expression went blank as she began to remember the mission with her adopted father; how the White Fang soldiers were murdered in front of her and how much she didn't want to experience that again.

"Well," Haiiden said, standing up and pulling a duffle bag from under his bed then dropping the bag on top of it. "Let's pack up and get some rest. I don't want to waste time tomorrow."

* * *

Team CNBR left their dorm and waited for Raine to slowly step out; he almost fell over as Byeli lunged quickly and caught him. He looked up hazily and gave a thumbs-up to signal that he was okay. As they started to walk down the hall, they turned the corner to see that HAVC had just left their dorm, and noticed that they all had bags slung over their shoulders. Curious on what was up with the team, they began to walk faster in order to catch up to them. As they reached HAVC, Celise stepped in front of them, and HAVC stopped. Turning around, Zed saw the rest of CNBR catch up and stepped next to Celise.

"Where are you guys going?" Celise asked with a grin that was eerily similar to Zed's. Team HAVC then looked back to one another, with Haiiden wondering if it was alright to share information about the mission. They weren't told that it was to be kept a secret, but he didn't feel comfortable lying to them.

"We are heading to Mistral," He replied, and just as he said that Byeli clasped her hands together and hopped with joy.

"Why Mistral?" Celise asked, leaning closer to Haiiden, their faces just inches away from each other, which made him feel uncomfortable.

"There is a security issue that the Council wants us to deal with," Cecilia quickly responded and this quick response made Zed ease up a little. He didn't want to tell them that they were going on a mission against the White Fang, however, he couldn't help but feel impressed by how Cecilia told them the truth without revealing much.

" _She's a lot better at this than I am,_ " he thought.

Celise backed away and raised a brow, while the grin turned more into a soft smile. After a few seconds, she shrugged and turned to walk to the dining hall. While still excited, Byeli jumped in between Haiiden and Zed and locked their arms with hers.

"Even though it's for a mission, you should still enjoy yourselves! Mistral is well known for its art and culture!" she said with a skip as she continued to pull Haiiden and Zed along with her. Cecilia rolled her eyes then watched with a smile as Byeli began to rant about possible tourist spots. Vaughn was taking notes as he listened to Byeli speak, and on a piece of paper, he began jotting down attractions that sounded interesting to him.

"I know a spot you might like, Haiiden," She said quietly as she leaned in closer to him while. He responded with a chuckle and looked down at her.

"Oh?" he replied.

"Mhm. It's a nice place in the central piazza. During most days of the week, dancing classes take place there," she replied with a smile that beamed brightly as she waited for a response. Haiiden, however, looked at her with a quirked brow and glanced up at Zed, then back to her. She noticed this, and the smile faded and began to express worry. "What is it? You don't like dancing?"

"It's not that, it is just- of all things to suggest, you suggest I take lessons?" he asked, almost unsure himself if that was what she was implying.

"No! No, I wasn't suggesting that. Zed told me that you would often stop to watch people dance when you were little," when she said that, Haiiden looked up with curiosity as he wondered what she was talking about.

"I did?" he asked.

"Yeah, you would space out while watching," Zed replied with a smile, finding amusement in it as he began to imagine it in his head, but then he frowned slightly in thought. "But now that I think about it, it was always to one particular dance and song."

"Oh! Tell me what it is!" she asked excitedly as she became curious as sh imagined Haiiden being lost while watching the couples dance. The two groups stopped walking, however, as Haiiden's arm broke away from Byeli. As she looked back, she noticed that he was just standing there and was staring into nothingness. Watching this began to make Byeli feel uneasy until Zed began to laugh.

"That's the look he would have!" he exclaimed and moved to slam a hand onto his back. The impact made Haiiden lose his breath and he began to sputter as he tried to regain it.

"My bad." Zed told him and put a hand on his shoulder. He led Haiiden along with everyone else towards the school's loading zone. As they walked, the smile on Zed's face began to fade as he kept thinking about Haiiden's momentary blankness. " _My bad._ "

* * *

As they reached the school's landing pads, the teams waved their goodbyes and Team HAVC stepped on to the VTOL. From there, it would take them to Vale's central landing area, which in turn would transport them across the continent to Mistral. After they watched the VTOL vanish from sight, CNBR then walked back into the school and made their way to the dining hall. Raine had already beaten them there and was sitting by himself, eating alone. As the rest of the team got their morning meals and sat with their teammate, Yang and Ruby came by.

"Hey girl!" Yang yelled before sitting in front of Celise and both extending their fists to bump them together in greeting. Ruby sat next to Celise and hugged her from the side, then Celise chuckled to herself while reaching out to pull her close.

"Hey you two; how are you?" She asked them quietly while Byeli watched silently, and couldn't help but smile as she took notice of Celise's change in attitude. She always found it nice that despite Celise's tough girl attitude, the fact that it had changed so drastically whenever these two came by, made Byeli realize that Celise did indeed hide a tender side.

"Eh. Could be better," Yang replied, and then looked back down at Ruby as if she was waiting for something. Ruby looked up with a half-smile and tilted her head a little as if she was expecting something from Celise.

"You know what today is?" Ruby asked, which made Celise stop chewing on her meal and look back between Ruby and Yang, wondering if this was some kind of trick question.

"Ummm, I don't, sis. What is today?" She asked Ruby softly.

"You remember Sarrah?" Ruby asked Celise again, this time the smile fading completely.

"Sarrah?" Celise narrowed her eyes as she spoke the name, trying her hardest to remember the significance of the name.

"Yeah. She was our friend back at Signal, or at least she was _my_ friend," she said with a forced smile, before her expression changed to a more somber one. "Today is the anniversary of her death."

Celise flinched in her seat as she remembered who Ruby was talking about, and lowered her head to avoid eye contact.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised that you would forget. It was pretty messed up," Yang said quietly as she leaned on the table. The rest of Team RWBY came by but had heard what Ruby had mentioned and quickly sat down. This topic also drew the attention of the rest of Team CNBR as they began to slide closer so as to listen. Even Nadira seemed interested, as she lightly pulled the hood up to take a peek.

"Wait, someone died at Signal?" Blake asked quietly, looking around to make sure that there were no eavesdroppers.

"Yeah, the authorities ruled it as a murder. There were scorch marks everywhere," Yang winced as she explained the details, which made Blake and Weiss look to each other in horror. Celise sat quietly, frozen still as the details were being discussed.

"How did that happen?" Weiss asked, seemingly worried since it was a school for Hunters in training. It made her wonder if something like that could happen at Beacon.

"No idea. It happened so fast, like I am guessing in a matter of seconds; fast," Yang continued.

"There were no witnesses."

"Yeah," Celise finally said as she looked back up to Yang and then to Ruby.

"I remember how Qrow started to patrol the hallways after that," Yang added with a slight chuckle.

Celise looked up with a raised brow after the mention of this added security. "Wait, Professor Branwen was watching the halls?" she asked in disbelief. "I don't remember seeing him anywhere near my dorm."

Yang looked up in confusion at Celise's question, so the girl decided to elaborate.

"Really?" Yang tilted her head then looked down as she thought for a bit. "Huh. I guess it might have just been around ours then," Yang thought out loud while Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Well, he _is_ our uncle. He might have been worried about us," Ruby responded. At which point Celise tightened her fists and looked to Ruby and then to Yang. "I would never let anything like that happen to you guys," she said suddenly, her eyes clearly burning with determination, but quickly disappeared as Yang began to laugh.

"Awww. You _do_ care," she said to her, and reached across the table to lightly push her against the shoulder.

"And we got your back, Celise," Ruby replied, however her words were genuine and weren't sarcastic like her sister's. The response made Celise feel better on the inside, but she still had an intense feeling inside her, one that she could only describe as guilt. However, something caught their attention when they heard a commotion behind them. Celise looked behind Yang, while she turned to see that CRDL was pushing down another student. As they watched, they thought it was one of their usual targets, a Faunus, but they realized it was just another poor girl.

"You know? Byeli and I were planning to double team them," she said in an attempt to change the subject, grinning all the while. "I am sure you'd like some payback huh?"

Byeli thought to herself for bit then caught herself playing with her thumbs.

"I am not used to fighting other people. I mostly fought Grimm during my shows," she responded quietly, so much so that some had to lean in to hear her.

"Well, I'm sure that's all that matters, right?" Weiss responded to Byeli's discomfort, but then narrowed her eyes at Team CRDL. "However, they do need to be knocked down a peg or two."

"I would like a rematch, but mostly to show that I've earned my place here," Byeli concluded while taking a deep breath, trying to think about something else. At that moment, Yang and Celise looked at each other and grinned.

* * *

Glynda's class had recently been moved to a larger stadium, due to the fights damaging the stage in the assembly hall, with the students seated in a circle surrounding the sparring arena. On one end, Byeli could be seen twirling a set of rods in her hands. She spun around to accumulate speed, and would occasionally stop to perform a strike from the inertia she had built up, the rod hissing through the air as she swung it. She took a deep breath and would nervously twirl the rods in her hands. She turned to see that Celise had joined up with her, and that she had rolled up her sleeve to reveal a chain that was coiled around her arm. She then loosened it a little and the metallic sound of the links clicking against each other echoed through the stadium.

"So, Cardin won't be fighting this time," Celise remarked with a disappointed sigh and Byeli turned to look at her.

"Says that he has already beaten you once, so he's not going to waste his time," Byeli then responded by stomping her foot in frustration and turned to face the opponents who did agree to fight. Their opponents were two of the other team members from CRDL: Russel Thrush and Dove Bronzewing.

"Well, I can still prove myself here," Byeli said to Celise, hopping in place as she began to get a little excited.

"Yeah, still practice against real people," Celise responded as she quietly stepped forward and allowed some of the chain to slide down her arm. She picked it back up again, but she coiled it into two loops and held it in her fist. They both watched as their opponents stepped forward on to the ring as they both prepared themselves. Dove pulled out his sword and stood ready next to Russel, while his teammate pulled out two knives and placed a foot behind him, ready to kick himself forward.

Byeli stood ready with her eyes narrowed at her opponents. Celise looked from the corner of her eye and smiled when she saw Byeli's tail wagging from side to side.

"Calm down, 'Warrior Princess,'" Celise joked, but right as she said that, Byeli was the first to launch her attack. Charging at her opponent, she used her Faunus agility to jump at Russel. He quickly dodged and tried to counter by swinging at where she would have landed. Just as she made contact with the floor, she quickly turned her body and deflected the attack with one of the rods. Meanwhile, Dove swung his sword to try and hit Byeli, and she quickly jumped out of the way. As Dove's sword crashed into the ground, Russel pulled his arm back for another swing, when something caught his arm. He turned to see that a chain had coiled around it, and at the other end of the chain was Celise. She grinned as she began to pull him back, with Russel resisting all the while.

"Ooooh! I love it when she pulls out the chains," Yang exclaimed as she watched the start of the match with a grin.

"I honestly don't know how to respond to that." Blake muttered with a blank face, while Yang seemed oblivious as to how the comment was interpreted.

"Come here, boy," Celise said to Russel with a wink. Russel scowled at her when she called him a boy and charged at her. He swung his dagger, but she grabbed him by the wrist and guided the attack away. As he missed, she kicked him in the back, forcing him to stagger forward and pulled on the chain again to yank him back, forcefully. Byeli ran forward and stepped onto Dove's sword, running up the blade and using her tail as a counter weight to quickly turn and kick him. As the foot connected onto his face, she changed the direction of her tail's swing to quickly change momentum and finished by pushing him away. As she flipped in the air, Dove had quickly regained his footing and was already charging her for a counter attack.

When she landed, she looked up and saw that he had already closed the distance, and he was already bringing his sword down. She brought up her rods to block the attack, and the force of the attack made her stagger back. Russel had been able to break away from Celise's chain and rushed past her to jump and kick Byeli in the back of the head. Celise held her breath as she rushed forward to defend Byeli. She let out some slack on the chain and whipped it into Dove's cheek. As Russel attacked to defend his teammate, Celise again caught his wrist, but this time she twisted it and ducked under his arm.

Russel grunted and reeled forward in an attempt to fight through the pain. She then rolled over his back which forced him to spin to his left. As she landed, she let go of the arm so that she could jump and kick him into Dove. As the two opponents collided, they fell to the ground and scrambled to get up. Celise then bent down and reached out to help Byeli get up while she sighed to herself in disappointment while Celise lifted her to her feet.

"Don't worry, girl. I am sure we got this locked up already," Celise assured her as she patted her on the back. Byeli looked up at her and took a deep breath before looking back at her opponents. She placed both ends of her rods together and a discharge of electricity pulsed through them, connecting them both together with a blue arc of energy. She stood ready, holding her staff with both hands while pointing one end at Dove. Russel was beginning to show signs of frustration, breathing heavily through his nose and tightening the grip on his blades, while Dove observed silently and raised his sword, poised to attack.

Byeli was the one to rush forward again, and Russel jumped in just as she began to charge. Swinging his dagger as he was expecting an attack but instead she swung the end of her staff downward. As she swung, she knocked his attack toward the floor, forcing him to lower his body. To avoid a strike, he quickly rolled forward, but didn't expect that Byeli to ignore him and jump over him. As Russel got up, he saw that Celise was already in mid-punch. He quickly reacted and spun to the right, making her attack miss. As she failed to connect, he brought his right arm and swung back as he completed the spin. The counter went low, so Celise quickly stepped back and leaned forward so that her lower body was able to get out of the way. She brought her arms back to change the energy in her form, allowing her to stand upright as Russel attacked again, this time swinging his left arm up. The swing only managed to cut off a lock of Celise's hair. After jumping back again to avoid another attack, she then grabbed Russel's arm, pulling it back while pushing a hand into his shoulder blade to lock it in that position.

He desperately tried to counter by driving his elbow back into her head, but she saw the blow as it was coming, and used her left arm to block it. After blocking, she punched Russel brutally in the back of the head, then spun to his left and kicked him in the back of the knee. On one foot now, she completed her attack by swinging her chain and coiled it around his leg. As the chain tightened, she pulled up on it and forced Russel on his back. His body landed with a loud thud and a grunt as all air escaped his lungs and the wind was knocked out of him. She grinned as she started to cartwheel away from him, her body gaining energy which she then transferred to her arm, allowing her to lift his body in the air, and since he was still tied to the chain, she flipped him high into the air, then slammed him down onto the ground. Russel was gasping for air while trying to get up, but was instead forced back down as Celise placed a knee onto his back, and wrapped the chain around his throat. "Say 'Uncle!'"

Meanwhile, Dove swung his blade, which scraped down against Byeli's staff and caused sparks to fly from both of their weapons; as they made contact, Byeli pushed her staff to the right to guide his attack away and to leave an opening. It did give her a brief window, but Dove charged his shoulder at Byeli before she could take advantage of it. Their bodies collided, and Byeli fell on to her back but brought her staff up instinctively. She was dazed, and for a moment wasn't sure what was going on until she felt pressure on her hands. As she regained focus, she saw that her staff had blocked an attack by Dove. She immediately took a chance and swung her legs to the right and twisted her body to perform a windmill. Her legs swung underneath his, which tripped him and caused him to fall over onto his back. As she gained energy from the windmill, she quickly forced herself up and backed away from Dove. He got up, now was expressing the same frustration that Russel had felt before.

Byeli didn't notice that she was wearing a slight smirk as she started to have a bit of fun. He charged and swung at her again, only for her to bring up the right end of her staff to deflect it. Quickly spinning to her left, she then used the left end of her staff and caught Dove's left foot. She swept it so that he was on one leg now, and continued the spin so that she was able to use the right end of her staff again; she swept it against his right leg. As he fell onto his back, Byeli stopped her spin and performed a split.

As her body dropped, she swung her staff down while her left hand slid down the shaft and slammed the end of it at Dove's stomach, then swung the staff with both hands and brought it crashing into the back of his head, dazing him and leaving him nearly unconscious. Just for flair, she rolled back and threw her staff into the air while performing a cartwheel. When she fell back on her hands she used her feet to catch the staff and kicked it up in the air again. When her feet touched the ground, she then leapt into the air and performed a backflip. The staff fell to the ground and landed on its end, but was still standing straight. Byeli landed on the end that was sticking up and balanced herself on one foot. Dove rolled over, still dazed, and looked groggily up to see that she was staring down at him, but with a smile.

Without saying a word, she closed her eyes, placed a hand behind her back while the other rested over her chest and bowed as the observing students cheered and applauded, rising to their feet as one, with the exception of Cardin and Sky, both of whom glared furiously at the arena below.

"Winner!" declared Glynda, ending the match.


	14. Vol 1: Chapter 14

( **Two months into the first semester, and several hours after Chapter 13** )

The ride east to Mistral was long and boring. After the first hour had passed in silence, Zed began talking nonstop during the ride over to keep himself from going insane. This was the longest he had ever sat in one place without doing anything. Before long, he began to feel a sense of amusement as the rest of the team became restive due to his constant chatter, to the point where Cecilia finally snapped and lunged at him, dragging him into the cabin's aisle and beating him down against the airship's floor. Luckily, no one else was in the cabin to see this; Vaughn was sitting quietly as he performed his daily calibrations to his DM-28 rifle. As he watched, Haiiden began to notice that he was performing these calibrations not because of anything being wrong with the rifle but as a way to calm himself, as it kept his mind focused on something else beside his mission. This time was different, however and when he looked through his supply of white Dust, and noticed that he was running low.

"Budge up," Zed said to him as he got up from his beating and attempted to sit down next to Vaughn, who scooted over at Zed's request.

When Zed had sat down, Vaughn looked to Haiiden and sighed. "I should have seen the Quartermaster before we left. I don't have enough Dust for this mission."

"Don't worry," Haiiden said, and pulled out the credit chit he had been given for mission expenses and flashing the black card to the team. "We can stop by a couple of shops to replenish and provision," he smiled as he reassured his teammate, and Vaughn responded with a silent nod. They all had credit chits for the mission, usable anywhere in Remnant, and an unlimited budget, for any reasonable or justifiable expenses.

Cecilia sat down next to Haiiden, her hands aching from the beating she had inflicted. Zed was laughing to himself a little, holding his sides as they began to hurt from the thrashing he had received, and the laughter only added to the discomfort in the cabin. As she sat down, she went back to what she was thinking about before she attacked Zed, something that had been on her mind ever since her duel with Haiiden.

Her mind kept reverting to the vision she had seen, with the fireplace and the woman in white. Her emotions ranged from a sense of warmth in her soul then to something cold, with only a single ember burning inside her. After realizing that she could not make sense of it, she then thought back to when she noticed her leader's disdain for Ironwood. Remembering the comment he had made when Vaughn had told their story of when they were in the military, as well as the meeting with Ozpin. After a few moments of silence, she was unable to hold in her curiosity any longer, and she cleared her throat to get his attention.

"Sir, this has been bugging me for a while," she stated loudly so that everyone could hear her, and she was successful, as everyone turned their attention to her.

"The comment you made about Ironwood," she said hesitantly as she wanted to start out slow, and hoped not to receive an aggressive response in reply. Haiiden rolled his eyes and looked away with a sigh as he could guess what the subject would be.

"It sounds like you hate him. He helped us, and if weren't for him, my brother and I would probably be dead," she stated while looking back to Vaughn as he froze at the realization that he was being drawn into the conversation.

"He doesn't come across as a bad man, is what I am saying," she said as she tried to clarify her point.

"He sent you to that hell and you say he isn't bad?" Haiiden responded while looking back at her from the corner of his eye; he clenched his clawed gauntlet as he thought about Ironwood.

"It's not like he wanted to it to be that way. He just left us with someone he thought he could trust," she said in an attempt to reassure him. Haiiden had a slightly creepy smile slowly appear on his face as he began to shake his head slowly.

"And you trust that he was doing the best he could?" he asked her, the question caught her off guard, as trust wasn't something she'd thought about. As she sat silently thinking of an answer, Haiiden shook his head again and the grin faded.

"I don't trust him," he added.

"What did he do to you?" she asked with a hint of aggression as she felt that his answer was too vague.

"Drop it, Cecilia," Haiiden growled as he clenched his gauntlet further, almost bending the claws at the tips of his fingers.

"No. I want to—" she attempted to interject and push for more information when Haiiden suddenly got up out of his seat. Zed became a little uneasy and rushed over to him to block his path. He quietly patted Haiiden on the shoulder as he tried to get his friend to sit back down.

"You want to know?" he asked as his eyes began to turn crimson again. She continued to stare back at him, not wanting to back down but the red in his eyes made her strangely uncomfortable.

"That's what annoys me, you always want to know something that doesn't concern you."

"I just want to understand!" she yelled back, her face expressing frustration, at first because of how he was acting, but also because her curiosity was getting the best of her. Haiiden stood silently and waited for her to calm down, but also allowed himself to take a few deep breaths.

"My mother and Ironwood were friends. However, when she needed him the most, he turned a blind eye and abandoned her," he said, and the room suddenly turned silent for a long moment. Cecilia sat for a moment with her eyes wide open at this revelation. Then she turned away as she thought back again to the vision she had seen, wondering if the woman in white was the mother that he was talking about; although she couldn't really make it out for sure; she eventually hung her head and felt a hint of regret. A loud ding interrupted her thoughts as it signaled that they were arriving at Mistral and needed to put on their seat belts. Everyone then returned to their seats, belted up, and sat in silence as the airship began its long descent towards their destination in Mistral.

After arriving at Mistral's central airport, HAVC got off, only to see that no one was there to greet them. Haiiden was a little annoyed by this; that, coupled with his conversation with Cecilia about Ironwood left him frustrated. He shook his head and motioned for his team to follow as they made their way out of the terminal. HAVC then met with one of Mistral's Customs Officers, who explained to them the difference between Mistral's and Vale's laws, in brief, and checked their luggage, making careful note of their weapons, and checking their papers and visas, which permitted them to bring such weaponry into the kingdom. After that, the officer then lightened up as he began to point out locations of interest. Haiiden shrugged lightly, as he had noticed upon arriving that it was already dark and his mind was solely focused on getting some rest.

As they made their way out of Mistral's airport, they were immediately struck by what they saw: beautiful architecture of the surrounding buildings that were laid with black bricks, which oddly seemed to separate itself from the darkness of the night. The lights that lined the streets seemed to add to this contrast. On top of each lamp post was a wreath of flowers, which seem to still show off a variety of colors, despite the dark. Most of the team stood awestruck, but then the wonder was interrupted when Zed let out a loud yawn. The others turned to see that he was unimpressed by the beautiful sights.

"If no one is going to meet us, then maybe we should find a place to sleep? I'm knackered," he said with a shrug, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he eyed everyone and awaited their answer. The others immediately agreed, as the long ride, as well as the awkwardness between Haiiden and Cecilia, had left everyone drained. They continued to admire the Kingdom as they seemed to find a new delight on every street corner. Despite how late it was, the Kingdom was still very much alive, with many shops still open. After a few minutes of taking in the sights, they finally stopped in front of a hotel, and saw that Zed had already entered it. He was talking with the clerk at the front to arrange a suite for them. For a moment it seemed as if they were going to be turned away. However, after a few sly words from Zed as well as the clerk being a fellow Faunus, he was able to haggle and get a four-bedroom suite for the team, courtesy of his expense chit. Then, from the corner of his eye, Vaughn noticed a man sitting at a table and drinking tea. As he looked at the man, he noticed that the he was also eyeing them for a moment, then turned his attention back to the paper he was reading.

After ascending by elevator to the top floor, Team HAVC made their way to their suite. Upon entering the suite, everyone froze at seeing how opulent it was. The beds seemed soft and luxurious, something that neither Haiiden nor the twins would be able to afford on their own. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling just above their heads. The door was shut and Zed locked the door behind them then proceeded to walk into his room, leaving the door open; as they watched, he dropped his bag on the floor and fell face-first into his bed, whereupon he immediately fell asleep, and the sound of muffled snoring filled the common room. Cecilia began to feel a bit heavy, and without thinking, she made her way to a vacant room, sitting down on the bed; she dropped her bag next to it and crossed her arms behind her head as she laid back. Vaughn joined her by walking to his bed, which was in a room adjacent to hers. That left Haiiden to take the remaining bedroom, which was to the right of Zed's

"I want to apologize, Cecilia." Haiiden said with a loud voice so she could hear him in the other room, figuring that Zed was out cold and would not be disturbed in any event. She forced herself to look up and watched the movement of the fan bolted to the ceiling of the room silently as she tried her best to stay awake.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. You didn't know my mom and Ironwood-" He began, but trailed off. She looked away for a moment to process what was being said and looked back towards his room, responding with a shrug, which he could not see.

"It's alright, sir. It seems like a sensitive subject, so I won't bring it up again," she said in an equally loud voice. Haiiden nodded and fell backwards onto the bed, realizing how surprisingly comfortable the mattresses were. They were nothing like the beds over at Beacon, and he almost instantly began to blink with fatigue. After a few moments, his eyelids became heavy and he quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Even after a couple hours into the night, the Kingdom was still alive and people could still be heard talking outside. Unable to sleep, Vaughn sat up in his bed after hearing a moan come from the other room. He sat up, then arose and left his room. He moved out into the common room, only to see that his sister was already up and looking into Haiiden's room. He crept over to join her and peeked into Haiiden's room himself, only to see that Haiiden's eyes were wide open and his arm outstretched into the air.

"Have you seen this before?" she asked him in a whisper, a bit groggy after having woken up and seeing this kept her from falling asleep again. Vaughn replied with a slow nod and his sister raised a brow, as it surprised her a little.

"He did this a couple times at Beacon. It became more frequent after your fight," he told her, and rubbed his eyes to clear the haze after having woken up. Haiiden didn't seem to be reacting at all to their chat, either the business outside had drowned out their voices, or he wasn't paying attention.

"Come on. Let's go back to bed," Vaughn said to his sister as he began to head back to his room. He crawled into bed, then shut his eyes and felt around for his pillow, a marker for where he should lay his head. Cecilia, meanwhile, held her stare onto her leader and seeing this only raised more questions in her mind. Eventually, she had to expend more energy keeping her eyes open than she did thinking about what Haiiden was doing. As she turned away to head back to her room, Haiiden's eyes shut and his arm slumped back down onto the bed.

* * *

The next morning, everyone had awoken and were feeling better as they were refreshed for the day, despite the jet lag. Everyone was sitting on Haiiden's bed as it had the best view of the shops across the street, and the team were all staring outside. The sights they saw the night before didn't do the Kingdom justice. As they stared, they saw that the district they were in had a much lighter shade of purple rather than the apparent black they had seen the night before. However, as one looked around the rest of the city, one could see that it was split into three districts, each with its own distinct color. There was one where the buildings were laid out with red bricks and another was all white. Most of the housing was composed of bricks, even the hotel they were staying in, but the interior was inlaid with teak wood, mahogany, and brass, for a more aesthetic decor.

"Why did they build it like this?" Haiiden asked himself aloud.

"I guess it's more visually pleasing," Cecilia responded as she thought that he was asking the team. However the tone in her voice made it sound as though she was also unsure of the answer.

"It does look like the dog's bollocks, I will admit," Zed said with a sigh, a little agitated as he was hungry and the room service was taking a little longer than he expected.

A knock on the door made everyone flinch in place, while Zed rolled backwards on the bed. Landing on his feet as he ran out of the bedroom and into the common room, he quickly walked towards the door. After a quiet chat between Zed and whomever was at the door, Zed closed it and came back into view pushing a cart with their morning meals. Everyone let out a sigh of relief as they walked over to pick out what they wanted to eat. Haiiden then pulled out a chair from a desk that was next to the wall in the common room. Everyone else then sat down in various easy chairs to enjoy their meals, with Zed sitting on the desk next to Haiiden, and the twins sat next to each and nodded their heads to Zed and Haiiden before they begin to eat.

"I wonder if there's anything good on the telly," Zed said, turning on the morning news on the wall screen and flopping into an easy chair to watch.

Haiiden looked up to see that Cecilia was staring up at him as she leaned forward to eat. As they made eye contact, they both quickly turned away to avoid each other. Haiiden felt the awkwardness creep up on him, so he decided not to look up from his bowl. After a few moments, everyone heard a ping from Haiiden's Scroll as he had just received a message.

"Thank you," he whispered to himself as he pulled out the data and communication device. His eyes began to scan the message and, as expected, the sender was Ironwood. He gritted his teeth but shook his head as he decided to read through it anyway.

"Meet up with a man named Lipesce at 15:00 in front of your hotel," he said out loud for his team to hear. As he finished, he looked up to everyone to confirm the plan for the day. Everyone nodded, but Zed looked down at his wrist watch and jumped from his chair.

"We got some time," he looked to Cecilia. "Want to snog? Perhaps a little how's your father?"

Cecilia glared at him with a death-stare. "I will cut your throat, you stupid git," she replied, mocking his Northern slang and accent.

Zed laughed, then continued. "But seriously, we have some time, so let's take a look around Mistral! We might not get a chance like this again," he said with a grin as he backed up toward the door between the common room and the hallway. Everyone turned towards each other to see if it was a majority decision, with each team member nodding to one another as they were clearly on the same page.

The team winced as they stepped out of the hotel and realized just how loud the Kingdom truly was. The sounds of people milling about, and the music of street performers practically drowned out the motors of the cars and trucks in the street. Haiiden sighed and was about to walk away until he noticed that Vaughn and his sister were already leaving. He remembered that they needed to stock up on Dust for Vaughn, so he turned to Zed to see that he was leaving as well.

"Hey. Where are you going?" Haiiden yelled after him and tried to run to him but was blocked by people who congested the sidewalks.

"I'm going to have a look around. Try not to have fun, alright?" Zed yelled back while he was still in view but then melded into the crowd of people. Haiiden slumped his shoulders as he was alone now, and didn't know where to go to pass the time. Then he remembered what Byeli had told him and sighed. He did enjoy watching people dance, but he was reluctant to go this time. Since he had been left alone by his team, he decided it would be best to check it out, if only to give him something to do before their appointment.

* * *

"You want Dust directly from the Schnee Company?" Cecilia asked her brother with a curious expression as they stopped in front of a Dust compounding and refinement laboratory. The chain had been bought out by the Schnees in an attempt to eliminate competition, and the compounding lab doubled as a shop.

"Some of the stuff I need can be found right here," Vaughn told his sister as he proceeded to enter the store. After the doors closed behind them, they noticed that the liveliness of the Kingdom was drowned out by the music that was playing in the shop. The twins looked around in wonder at the shelves that were filled with different colors of Dust, each with their own unique and magical properties. Cecilia was already looking around for what Vaughn needed, as she already knew the types of Dust he typically used. While she pored over the overflowing shelves of powder vials, jars, and crystals, Vaughn approached the clerk's desk and rang a bell to signal that he was a waiting customer. Shortly after he rang it, a clerk came from around the back with a smile to greet Vaughn.

"Do you have a manager I can speak to?" Vaughn asked quickly before giving the clerk a chance to greet him. The clerk's smile wavered as it broke the usual script that he was supposed to use to welcome customers. He looked away for a moment and turned back to Vaughn to reply with a nod before disappearing from view. After a few minutes, another man appeared, and his choice of clothing was a little more professional.

"Before I ask my initial question, I need to make sure if this is a certified compounding and refinement plant for Dust, right?" Vaughn quickly asked as he went straight to business. The manager was taken aback slightly by this, which was evident by a shift in his stance as well as a raised brow.

"Yes?" he answered, the tone in his voice made it evident that he was unsure as to what Vaughn's question implied.

"When you refine the Dust from its raw form, do you also keep the byproducts that are left over?" Vaughn continued as he asked his next question while keeping eye contact with the manager; the manager became more confused as he posed his questions.

"Yes, but we usually throw those out," the manager finally answered.

"I need five jars of Grey Goose. Do you mind if I buy it off of you?" Vaughn asked, and this question confused the manager further, to the point where he became slightly frustrated.

"That byproduct serves no particular purpose. What on Remnant would you use it for?" the manager asked as he kept his brows raised at him.

"Grey Goose is not entirely useless. It can be used as an ingredient for mixing different forms of Dust," Vaughn replied and with a smile. The manager was concerned by this as he took a deep breath and his eyes widened.

"Mixing dust is pretty dangerous—"

"I realize that," Vaughn interrupted as the manager tried to voice his concerns. "But you don't have to worry about that. I do it all the time: I use an Atlesian DM-28 re-configurable Assault Rifle with Sniper Option that uses a variety of Dust-based ammunition, including Sabot and High Explosive Case-less rounds. I use the Grey Goose to create non-lethal ammunition cartridges."

"I don't feel comfortable selling it to you if your intent is to mix, sir," the manager interjected but at that moment Vaughn pulled out one of the magazines that he used for his rifle. The magazine glowed softly, and had a piece of tape stuck on to it with the inscription "Crowd Control". The manager studied it with a perplexed expression and ejected one of the cartridges, examining it carefully; there was white Dust in the shop, but not with this kind of glow. After he was done inspecting the ammunition, the manager looked down as he thought to himself. His eyes scanned from side to side as he went over Schnee Company policy in his mind. A couple times he looked as if he wanted to speak but stopped himself. After few moments he took a deep breath and looked back up with a smile. He returned the cartridge to the magazine and handed it back to Vaughn.

"You obviously know what you're doing, sir. We would be happy to sell it to you," the manager told Vaughn. Vaughn then sighed with relief and nodded to the manager.

"How about five Rotecs per jar?" Vaughn offered at first but the initial offer made the manager smile coyly.

"Well since you seem to really need it, I think we can raise the price a little." The manager said, and his expression changed back to a more passive state, trying not show any signs of backing down. "Ten Rotecs per jar."

Vaughn knew that Mistral's was a haggling culture, but as an Atlesian, he had no patience for it. "It's of no use to you; be glad I want to buy what you would normally throw away anyway. Six Rotecs," Vaughn said sternly and narrowed his eyes at the manager. He had made a good point, and the manager sighed.

"Eight Rotecs and fifty Schuls per jar," the manager said.

Vaughn rolled his eyes, clearly frustrated. "Seven Rotecs even, or I find another compounding lab," he said. "That's my final offer."

The manager smiled. "Done and done. Wait here, sir," he said to Vaughn before he headed for the lab in the back, and out of view. Vaughn then stepped away from the clerk's desk and went back to join his sister. Her arm was filled with jars of dust and seemed to have a little trouble holding them; there were a couple red and a few white ones. He tapped his sister on the shoulder and took the jars that she already had, placing them in a shopping basket. He looked over the red ones first and even though they had to be ignited to work, the jar still felt warm to the touch. _Fire_. He then returned to the clerk's desk and set the jars on top of it, with his sister bringing in more jars and set them beside the ones he had already set down. The manager then returned with five jars of the byproduct Grey Goose, but the color was a dull grey and emitted no light, unlike the refined dust.

"Two-hundred-and-fifty-seven Rotecs, and thirty-two Schul is your total after taxes," the manager told them and Vaughn pulled out his his mission credit chit, then handed it to the manager. After inputting a couple things into the computer, he then handed the chit back to Vaughn and placed the jars into a bag.

"Have a nice day!" the manager said with a smile as he handed the bag to Vaughn. He bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment as he took the bag and proceeded to walk out.

"Two-hundred-and-fifty-seven and thirty-two. Pretty pricey," Cecilia pointed out to her brother as the door to the shop closed behind them.

"It's worth it. We're on a mission against the White Fang; I'm going to need some non-lethal ammo against to use against them, unless you want a replay of last time," he reminded his sister, and she nodded in agreement. She then almost fell forward as something heavy bumped into her from behind. She rolled her eyes and clenched her fists as she turned around to face what had run into her. Her anger quickly abated as she saw a young woman with orange hair, green eyes, and a dusting of freckles on her cheeks, who also turned to face her, and looked at Cecilia with her head tilted to the side.

"Penny! You have to watch out where you are going," said a man behind the girl called Penny. For a moment, Cecilia recognized the voice and looked behind Penny to see who it was. As she focused on the man, her eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face.

"Doctor Maynard!" she yelled out as she ran past Penny. Vaughn hoped that what he heard wasn't his imagination and turned his head upon hearing the name.

"Vaughn? Cecilia?" he asked them as he watched the two approached him, flinching as Cecilia ran at him at full speed before coming to a complete stop. Cecilia was standing in front of the Doctor with a smile that she couldn't control anymore. She stood speechless in front of the man who had saved her brother from going blind.

"We haven't seen you in a long time, Doc," Vaughn told the Doctor but kept his feelings under better control than his sister.

"Yes! Ever since I last worked for your father to analyze your optic nerves and prep you for the nano-procedure," Maynard said and smiled as he confirmed that it was the twins that he had met when they were little. He looked at Vaughn's glasses, "I see the retinal attachment and optic nerve repair was a success."

"It was, albeit not a complete success. It's so good to see you, sir! I haven't forgotten what you did for Vaughn," Cecilia said to the Doctor, and the memory of how he had helped her twin brother made her smile grow wider.

"It was nothing. I live to help others; in fact, it's a part of my Pelocratic Oath." Maynard nodded, a little embarrassed at the fact that Cecilia still praised him for what he had done.

"Doctor Maynard, who are these people?" Penny asked as she walked over and stood beside the Doctor. Cecilia's and Vaughn's eyes widened and looked to Maynard for clarification.

"Is this your daughter, Doctor?" Vaughn asked. Maynard smiled and put a hand on Penny's shoulder.

"Hardly," Doctor Maynard smiled and chuckled. "I work for her father; he's involved in a rather unique project regarding Auras, and Penny here is our leading test subject in that project," he said and looked back down at her but she quickly pulled away from his hand and stepped up to Cecilia.

"Will you be my friend?" Penny asked, rising onto her toes to get closer to Cecilia's face. The sudden question left Cecilia a little hesitant as to how to answer. She stepped back when Penny got too close, as it made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Penny," Maynard tilted his head and had a look on his face like he had already discussed this with her before. For a moment Penny didn't understand what was going on, but then realized how she was acting, and stepped away.

"It's alright," Cecilia interrupted with a slight chuckle and smiled at Penny. Leaning forward so that their eyes met and were on the same level. "I would be more than happy to be your friend, Penny."

Penny smiled, with a twinkle in her eyes.

* * *

Zed walked down the streets of Mistral while scanning the area around him. The sidewalk was less crowded now, so he didn't have to worry about drawing any unwanted attention. Turning his head from side to side to see as much as he could, he noticed that he had entered the part of Mistral that was mostly populated by the Faunus, the city's Little Menagerie. They all seemed to be living happily, but he knew that they were hiding something. The protests for Faunus rights had ended since the White Fang had turned violent, and this is what kept the Faunus from protesting further: their fear that they would be bunched with terrorists, or branded as terrorist supporters by humans.

He knew that Faunus were mostly concealing what they felt; the racism and discrimination would make some feel desperate, and many would feel as though they had no way out. They were the perfect targets for recruitment, as the White Fang would prey on those feelings and get them to join the cause. During their recruitment pitch, they would tell impressionable Faunus that there was no other way to handle the tyranny of humanity, and sometimes Zed felt like that was the truth as well. He flinched upon noticing another Faunus looking at him from the corner of his eye, then he stopped for a moment to see a slender young woman with a dark complexion, as though she had been in the sun for a good while, and it gave her skin a nice brown tint. She had brown hair that grew lighter around the tips, with brown ears that stuck out of the top of her head. He then noticed the curled and bushy tail, similar to that of the common squirrel.

As he scanned her facial features, he realized that she had noticed him looking at her and that he was looking him over as well. This made her smile at him and she winked. Blushing slightly at the wink, coupled with the fact that he always had a thing for Faunus with squirrel features made him think of Duana, a young squirrel-Faunus that he used to date long ago, but it didn't last long: she had too much energy for just one man to handle. The thought made him chuckle a little, but then he remembered why he was there in the first place. He diverted his eyes away from the young lady and looked down as he walked past her, only pausing to look up again and scan the area around him after he had passed her, leaving her looking confused and dejected; she tilted her head and watched him as he walked away.

He stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts, leaning his back against a wall. He looked down at his watch to see if he had time to spare before he had to start heading back; he looked around for a while as he and waited for something to happen, almost as though he _expected_ something to happen, something that would give him the opportunity for him to jump in and help. Two girls then passed by him as he waited, but he didn't pay much attention as they walked by.

" _The White Fang_ ," Zed thought to himself and his eyes turned orange as he began to seethe with anger. " _Fighting for Faunus Rights. I used to believe that_."

He then placed his hand on the karambit that he had kept sheathed behind him, hidden in case he ever needed it. He ran his finger and thumb along the double-edged blade as he sighed.

" _But if I find you, I find Torchwick,"_ he thought to himself again, but then jumped as he heard a loud, metallic clatter from the alley behind him. He turned to see that the two girls who had walked past him had accidentally knocked over a trash can. As he watched them pick it up, he then noticed someone walking out of the shadows, wearing a familiar uniform. He was a tall Faunus wearing a ceremonial Grimm mask, and that was when Zed knew that he was a member of the White Fang. Zed quickly put his back against the wall and inched closer to the corner to listen in on the conversation. He peeked around the corner for a moment while wondering why the two girls would be dealing with the White Fang; upon closer inspection, he noted that one of the girls had yellow eyes similar to a cat. A Faunus.

"I don't know. We aren't fighters," said the yellow-eyed Faunus girl, nervously.

"That's the thing. Once the people see that even the average Faunus will no longer accept their oppression, then they will know that we are serious, and that we have had enough," said the White Fang recruiter as he walked closer to the two Faunus with a smirk below his mask, which only covered the top half of his face. The two Faunus then exchanged some unsure looks, no words exchanged between the two, as if they were reading each other's facial expressions. After a few moments of this, they then turned back to White Fang. Yellow Eyes nodded her head, while her friend sheepishly hung her head.

"Good. It's only a matter of time before we are free from the tyrants, ladies," his smirk grew wider as he spoke, and handed them two Grimm masks. Yellow Eyes kept eye contact with White Fang and nodded, while her friend looked down at the mask and ran her thumb over the indentations where the eyes were. White Fang then looked up and turned his head to the end of the alley way where Zed was waiting. He turned back to the girls when he saw that no one was there, as Zed had quickly taken cover around the corner and waited for White Fang to leave the two alone.

"Come by in a week. We will have an orientation for new members, and I expect to see you two ladies there," he concluded and exited through the other end of the alley. While Zed watched, the two Faunus looked back to each other as the more timid girl was still unsure in her decision. Yellow Eyes sighed and put a hand on her friend's shoulder in an attempt to reaffirm their decision. Then, she narrowed her eyes past her friend as she saw Zed approaching them. They couldn't tell if it was the way he walked, or the broadness of his shoulders as he arched his back and puffed out his chest, but the posture made him look aggressive and intimidating. Yellow Eyes pushed past her friend and assumed a more defensive stance as he approached. He stopped in front of them for a moment and allowed himself to calm down. Yellow Eyes lowered her guard, and without warning, Zed snatched the masks from their hands, then threw them on the ground and proceeded to stomp them to pieces.

"H-Hey!" Yellow Eyes exclaimed and was about to strike at him before she saw how he looked back at her. His eyes were orange again and was staring intensely at her which made her freeze in place.

"Trust me when I say you want nothing to do with the White Fang," he whispered to them and hoped that whispering would not only calm them down, but calm himself as well. He knew that if he wanted to convince them, then he would have to act like a friend. The girl's eyes immediately widened as they realized that he was witness to their meeting with White Fang. The more timid girl backed away with her head lowered while Yellow Eyes attempted to stare Zed down.

"They fight for the Faunus. Maybe if we were treated better, then we wouldn't be forced to do this," she told him, keeping her voice low so as not to arouse unwanted attention from people passing by the mouth of the alley. Yellow Eyes knew that if people knew she was associating with the White Fang, then she would be in trouble.

"They fight for themselves. It's not about Faunus rights anymore," he growled at them as he towered over Yellow Eyes.

"You just don't understand!" she exclaimed in a hoarse, hushed tone.

"I do—" Zed said with a sigh, trying to explain his side before she interrupted him.

"And how would you know?" she yelled out, but was immediately struck by the sight of Zed's fox ears as they popped out of his head. The other Faunus girl looked back up at him and her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at his ears.

"Trust me. I _do_ understand. For reasons you wouldn't even begin to believe, I do understand," Zed replied, his eyes turned back to its normal green as he took deep breaths to calm himself. He looked upon the two of them with a frown and sighed again. Yellow Eyes looked away for a moment, and felt defeated.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"I don't know. But joining the White Fang is a mistake. It's _not_ the answer," he said to her as he crouched down so as to look up at her, in the eyes. For a moment he thought of Blake, but he banished the thought from his mind. "It is because of them that the fear and distrust of our people has worsened in human society. We need to show the humans that we are better than that."

The girls then looked back to one another, again scanning each other's facial expressions to try and figure out what the other was thinking.

"Go back to protesting. We need to show the humans that we are above violence." Zed told them with a smile and looked to the both of them to see if he could get a clue as to whether or not his advice was sinking in. Timid Girl nodded, while Yellow Eyes only kept eye contact.

"Ok. We will try again," she said him and she motioned for her friend to follow. As they walked away, Yellow Eyes glanced back one last time before disappearing from view. Zed smiled to himself and walked away, feeling victorious, and thinking that he had just saved another two from falling into the White Fang's trap.

" _We need to show the humans that we are above violence_ ," he stopped in his tracks as the phrase echoed in his mind. The feeling of victory left him as he realized that he was nothing but a hypocrite. He thought back to his fight with Cardin, and how he had beaten him nearly to death. In that case, he had also used violence to make people see things his way. He also thought about how, years ago, he once thought that he was fighting for the betterment of Faunus kind.

* * *

With his hands in his coat pockets, Haiiden was walking down the street in silent contemplation, walking down a crowded sidewalk as he made his way to the center piazza of the Kingdom if Mistral. Recent events and his reoccurring dreams had left his mind cluttered with all sorts of different thoughts; his first thought was his recollection of dropping out of Beacon Academy. Stepping into Headmaster Ozpin's office to announce that he was leaving, so he could find his own way, and forge his own destiny. How fighting other students was a waste of time when they had a common enemy to fight: the creatures of Grimm. Ozpin had tried to reason with him, but failed when Glynda had jumped in to yell at Haiiden. The yelling didn't help, as it made him feel like a child, and just like a child, he had stormed out of the office. He ran, as he knew that they would come after him, and went to find work for some money to support himself. It wasn't that he didn't have any money at all, he had an account with plenty of Lien that his had mother had left for him; he wasn't wealthy by any means, but had enough to allow him to make a start in life and live peacefully. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't use it, as it had been transferred to Ozpin's stewardship, due to his being Haiiden's legal guardian. In order to go about his business without being tracked, he had to work for rent, food, transportation, and some pocket money.

Then his thoughts drifted back to when he first met team JNPR, and how they had a celebrity in their ranks: Pyrrha, and how they also had Jaune, who came from a family of famous warriors. They both had something in common: a name; the thought of having a name made him frown. He wanted to make a name for himself, and he had thought that staying at Beacon would keep him from doing that. Of course, he also wanted to help people, but he knew he would be lying if he said his intentions weren't entirely selfish. He wanted to make his mother proud, and hoped, were she still alive, that she would be proud of him.

His mother.

His mind then reeled back to Ironwood, and how he had abandoned her. He gritted his teeth and felt his eyes burning. His mind roared with a cacophony of angry thoughts, as he began to feel dizzy again.

" _Your mother had a similar ability_ ," he remembered Ozpin telling him after his fight with Cecilia. How she had touched him, and how he had invaded her mind and caught a glimpse of her memories. He then stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked down at his left hand. Under the glove was his bare hand, and his Semblance wouldn't work unless he made skin-to-skin contact. As a result, he always kept every part of himself dressed, so as not to expose any skin. At times, he cursed his power, but knew it was a part of him and what his power meant: the ability to see into other people's souls. He felt their joys as well as their pain, but most importantly, it allowed him to see into their souls. He felt the fires that burned within everyone, and to him it was a beautiful thing. It was why he was wanted to be like his mother, and to be able to fight: to keep those fires burning. He felt slightly stupid now, as he realized he couldn't make up his mind when it came to his Semblance. Did he hate it, or accept it? Maybe it was both.

People walked past him as he stood frozen in the middle of the sidewalk. So many people, all too busy to pay attention to the one person taking up space and standing motionless. Why, in such a busy walkway was someone just standing there and staring at their hand? " _A true ghost,"_ he thought as he took a deep breath, and took some time to collect his thoughts. Once he had them under control, he looked up and continued forward.

He seemed to have lost track of time, since he was lost in thought to the exclusion of all else, but it allowed him to pass the time, especially since he was by himself. He finally made it to the sprawling piazza, and in the center was a giant statue of a warrior standing over the fallen body of a Grimm. It was a little calmer now, and the music that was being played got louder as he stepped closer to the center. Then he finally saw what Byeli had mentioned to him, as there was a group of people dancing in the middle of the piazza. All had joyous expressions, as if they didn't have a worry or care in the world. The sight put a smile on his face and walked through the piazzato get a better look. He leaned forward onto some railings and watched as everyone danced. The dances would last for a few minutes, and then it would change as the small band moved on to the next song.

As the dance changed, Haiiden stood straighter as he realized the poses they were taking up. Staring into space as he reverted back into his thoughts, he recognized the dance. He remembered how when he was little that he would watch his mother dance by herself, or sometimes with an imaginary partner. Sometimes he would dance with her, while other times with her Huntress friend whenever she visited. He admired this Huntress, as she seemed to dress in a similar way to his mother. He marked this similarity between the unnamed Huntress and his mother, which caused him to like her, but her visits were rare when he was a child. So rare, in fact, that he was never able to remember her name. All he was able to remember was that it had an "R" in it.

His mind snapped back to the present as he noticed the part of the dance the participants were expressing now. He noticed how the man would keep a hand at his partner's waist and how she would put a hand on his shoulder, but the part that really got him was the fact that they would lock their free hands together and hold them over their heads while looking into each other's eyes. He always adored this dance, especially since it required making eye contact with one's partner. In a way, they were looking in to each other's soul and allowing them to meld into one being.

"Enjoying the view?" he heard the gentle voice of a woman that made him jump and turn his head to see where it came from. He noticed a young woman giggling at him, who found the fact that she had startled him amusing. A sheepish smile adorned his face as he attempted to greet her, but he couldn't as he scanned her features. She had pale skin that seemed to make her glow in the sunlight, as well as long, straight blonde hair that seemed to be as smooth as silk. She was wearing a white ball gown, and at the end there were some laces sewn into it with intricate patterns. She stepped closer and turned to face the dancers as she stood next to Haiiden. A smile crossed her face as she watched the dancers along with him.

"Y-Yeah. It's an amazing d-dance," Haiiden replied with a slight stutter as he was still embarrassed as to how he'd reacted to her greeting.

"It is. A passionate dance that fuses two people into one," she said as she looked down at the dancers with a smile. She turned to Haiiden and leaned in closer to him.

"You seemed pretty enthralled; do you know the dance?" she asked him.

"Umm, yeah," he said and wondered if he should tell her how he knew. "My mother taught me."

She raised her head when she heard his answer as she took his hand and began to pull him away.

"Well, my dance partner isn't here, so you will have to do," she said to him with a grin, pulling harder as Haiiden tried to resist, as he was trying to figure out who this woman was. She finally forced him to move, and they made their way to the center of the dance area. They assumed the starting position, even though everyone else was ahead of them in the dance. They stood a few paces away from each other, but still locked as they were holding each other's hands. He sighed as he knew it was too late to back out now, and they both began to step forward. After moving a few steps, they then turned to each and raised their free hands and locked them together. As they held each other's hands, they then began to skip to Haiiden's right in a line. After a couple skips, they spun their bodies but still held their hands together. At the end of the spin, they each let go of one hand and Haiiden raised his right arm in the air, which still held her other hand.

She kept her hand up and spun in a circle as Haiiden guided her, while he sidestepped as she spun, he reached out his free hand to catch hers. At the end of the spin, he then pulled his left arm out so that his elbow stuck out while she pulled her right arm, guiding each other as they moved in a semicircle to the left. At the end she spun her body again, and this time their right hands were on top of their partner's lefts and crossed each other. As the music swelled, Haiiden led her through the dance's traditional steps, sidestepping here, swaying there, and spinning her about as she smiled broadly. All the while, whenever she was not in a spin, their eyes were locked together, and it was if they were staring into each other's souls. Without meaning to, he realized that he was smiling back.

For a moment he wondered to himself why all of this was happening. Meeting Ironwood again, his dreams, and the dancing. Everything reminded him of his past, and it was as if fate was playing games with him. He laughed in his mind at the thought of the word fate; he didn't want to think he wasn't in control of the events as they unfolded. However, everything did seem eerily coincidental. Then his mind reeled as to how he used to watch his mother dance, but then noticed the woman looking back at him with a smile. Her hands at her hips as if she just finished chiding a child.

"You were supposed to catch me," she told him and tilted her head at him. He stared back and remembered where he was, realizing that he was still dancing with this woman. He smiled back at her out of embarrassment and looked away as he scratched the back of his head.

"It's ok. I had fun nonetheless," she said and motioned for him to join her. They walked back to a table and sat down together.

"Haven't seen you here before," she pointed out and he assumed that she was hinting at the question of where he was from.

"And you would be right. I am with Beacon Academy, from Vale," he told her with a bit of cockiness in his voice.

"Ah. A future hero," she responded, and then giggled.

"Well, I try to be," He said with a chuckle. Haiiden then noticed that the music had already changed, and the dancers were already doing a different dance. There was a few moments of silence save for the music as they both watched the dancers. He didn't know why, but he suddenly began to feel calmer.

"You said your mother taught you to dance?" She asked him, and he turned his head to face her. "Is she here with you?"

"No. She died when I was young," he replied to her, his face inscrutable.

"I am sorry to hear that," her smile disappeared, and she looked away as she felt bad about potentially bringing up any painful memories. Which she had; he remembered the day she died very well. He was having a good time, however, and didn't want to ruin it by discussing this particular subject.

"It's okay. Besides, do I look like I need my mother?" he joked, since he was legally an adult, but realized he spoke without thinking first. Everything he was, his dreams, his name, all came from his mother. For the first time in his life, he realized that he _did_ need her. He had stumbled through life and made many mistakes, with no one to seek counsel from, and no one to help him. He kept his smile to hide this sudden realization, as he didn't want to seem pathetic to this woman.

"Yes. You do," she answered with an intense stare. Not a stare that showed anger, but a stare that bespoke her understanding. And this took Haiiden by surprise; he tried to vocalize something, anything, but all he could do was open his mouth: no words came out.

"You look like someone who is lost, broken, and in need of guidance," she continued. This seemed to come out of nowhere, and began to make Haiiden feel dizzy. Who was this woman? Why did she approach him? She reached her hand to hold his, but he immediately pulled back and got up out of his seat. Whatever she was doing, it had begun to annoy him to the point where he visibly expressed anger.

"Oh no! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed as she stood up and attempted to stop him from leaving.

"You don't know me, Miss," he said to her through tightened lips as he lowered his head and leered at her. She pulled her hand away and held it over her chest while trying to step forward toward him.

"Thank you for the dance, but I have to get going now," he said before he walked back toward the hotel, his fists tightened and pressed against his sides.

* * *

( **I know that Lien is the currency in the show, but we don't know if its universal, or specific to Vale. So I decided to take the liberty and just make stuff up.** )


	15. Vol 1: Chapter 15

( **Twenty minutes after Chapter 14** )

Haiiden looked around and realized that he was lost. On his way to the central piazza, he had been poring through his thoughts the entire way, and he hadn't paid attention to which way he had gone. Since leaving the beautiful young woman alone back at the piazza, he was once again lost in his thoughts, and wandered who knew where. He sighed and turned as he tried to recognize any landmarks that he might have passed by. He considered stopping other passersby to ask how to get to the hotel that he was staying at, but he quickly realized that he didn't even remember what hotel was called, he considered asking people for directions based on a description of the hotel's exterior, but he had only seen it at night, and couldn't come up with an adequate picture of it to describe.

Finally, he remembered the Mission Manager App that had been installed in his Scroll prior to their leaving Beacon, and pulled up the tracking feature. Utilizing the app, he was able to see a map of the city, and all of his teammates' positions in relation to his. He identified the icon for Zed, and, Scroll held in front of him, he began to head toward the icon on the map.

As he made his way there, he saw Zed appear from an alley. He let out a sigh of relief and was glad to see a familiar face. He called out for Zed, which left Zed confused as he quickly turned his head to and fro as he tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. He finally noticed Haiiden when he was a few paces away as he ran towards him.

"Been looking for you," Zed told him as he approached, holding up his Scroll, which displayed the Mission Manager App as well. Although he was genuinely happy to see his friend, he didn't show it, as something was already bothering him. A smile then crept onto Haiiden's face, amused by the idea that Zed was looking for him while he was trying to find his way back.

"Really? I was trying to find my way back to the hotel, but I couldn't even remember what it looked like, let alone its name. Glad I came across you," Haiiden replied to Zed with a small shrug while they both stood for a moment.

"Did you have fun?" Zed asked as he turned to walk towards the hotel and Haiiden followed right beside him.

Haiiden walked with a raised brow, holding his breath when he didn't know how to answer. "Define 'fun.'"

"You know, maybe something that made you feel good or the feeling that coming here wasn't a big waste of time," Zed continued. This caught Haiiden off-guard a little, especially since it was Zed who volunteered the team to come.

"So is finding Torchwick a 'waste of time?'" Haiiden asked with a smirk as he tried to play at Zed's intentions. However, Zed didn't find any amusement in the question and just kept silent. Haiiden swallowed nervously when he didn't get a response, and they both walked toward the hotel silence.

They both let out a sigh of relief when they finally arrived back at the Hotel Il Palazzo. Hoping to take a quick break, as they still had some time before meeting with Lipesce, they made their way through the lobby, and towards their suite. Without warning, they heard someone call out their names from behind, and turned to see that it was Cecilia and Vaughn. Haiiden and Zed both watched as they approached with a pair of smiles when they noticed that Cecilia looked surprisingly cheerful. She seemed to almost be skipping, which made them wonder what exactly was going on.

"You seemed to have had a good time," Zed pointed out, feeling a bit leery from seeing Cecilia act in such a way. She stopped in front of the two with a big smile on her face, while Vaughn approached with a heavy bag slung over his shoulder. Haiiden reached out and took it to give Vaughn a break, which he was glad to hand over.

"Oh yeah. Remember Doctor Maynard?" she asked, her smile growing bigger when she mentioned the name. The size of her smile seemed almost inhuman, or at least alien coming from someone as stoic as Cecilia.

"The Doctor who used to care for the two of you at the orphanage?" Haiiden asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye; he twisted his body after having slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah! He was here! In Mistral!" she exclaimed to them. "And he was chaperoning his boss's daughter, whom we also got to meet!"

Zed and Haiiden both began to smile at this point as they worked past their feelings of discomfort. Cecilia was always so serious and gloomy, that to see her act happy made them forget their own troubles.

"So, should we meet with Lipesce then?" Vaughn asked as he looked up at a grand clock in the lobby and noticed it was almost three in the afternoon. Everyone then turned to look the clock to confirm the time. Fifteen minutes before three: it was time to meet up with him in front of the hotel, but they noticed that no one else was there yet. They all turned to look around, thinking that if they spotted someone out of the ordinary, that it might be him. Maybe he wore normal military attire, but everyone in the lobby wore casual, civilian clothing. At this point Cecilia's smile faded as she became confused as to where this "Lipesce" might be.

"You are late," they heard, and the voice seemed to originate from behind them. They all turned quickly, but only saw a few people passing by, and one man sitting at a table, reading a paper. Although everyone had overlooked the man, Vaughn realized that he had seen him the night before and slowly approached him. At first, the man didn't look up as Vaughn approached him; as Vaughn, when they were checking in; he slowly examined the man and as he leaned in to get a closer look, he began to feel a hint of suspicion creep up inside him.

"Penumbra Lipesce?" Vaughn asked, and everyone started to approach the man to who Vaughn was talking. At first they didn't think much of him, as the man just seemed to be an ordinary traveler, but after Vaughn asked his name, he looked up at the team.

"You are late," the man repeated as he set down the paper and picked up a cup of tea to drink from; he wore dark civilian clothing, which allowed him to blend in with the people around him. No wonder they were unable to find him at first, as they couldn't distinguish him from anyone around him. As they continued to scan his features, they saw that he had dark purple hair that draped along the back of his neck, down to his shoulders. His hair was combed back, and some white hair clips were placed on the crown of his head to keep it from falling into his eyes. After he took a quick sip of his tea, he placed the cup back down onto a saucer next to four folders stacked neatly on top of each other. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair with his hands folded in front of him, staring at the team members for a few seconds as he scanned each one.

"Well, to be honest, we are actually quite early," Zed said with a grin, trying to make a good first impression. Cecilia and Haiiden nodded in agreement after looking back at the clock to see that only three minutes had passed.

"Well, to be honest," the man replied as he attempted to mock Zed before picking up his cup and sipping from it again, "you arrived yesterday, and I expected to see you as you arrived."

Zed's smile faded as he crossed his arms as he realized he was being mocked. Unhappy with the tone that came from the man, he felt like he was being patronized.

"We thought that someone would meet with us at the airport," Haiiden jumped in, trying to defend himself and his team. He felt put off at Lipesce's assumption, especially since they weren't given any background on their mission prior to departing, merely that they would be meeting someone from the Mistral military, and that they would be taking action against a White Fang terror cell..

"I am not your chaperone," Lipesce replied while staring down Haiiden, which forced him to turn away and left him scratching the back of his head.

"Then who are you?" Zed asked, his eyes tinting slightly orange as he began to get a little annoyed by how this man was acting.

"I am the military and governmental liaison for this mission, Penumbra Lipesce, as you may have already guessed." He stared back at Zed, noticing his eyes turning orange and sighed to himself. "Forgive my attitude, time is of the essence, and we need to deal with this threat quickly."

Zed quickly calmed down after the apology had been made, but still felt a bit sour. Lipesce again looked to each individual member and made eye contact with each one before he then pointed towards Cecilia and Vaughn.

"So let's get introductions out of the way: Cecilia and Vaughn Sceryei." He said as he pointed towards the twins. They looked back at each other, surprised that he would know who they were. Everyone assumed that he would get names, but to be able to point and just tell them their names something they hadn't expected.

"Anders 'Zed' Ignis," Lipesce said, this time pointing at Zed. Zed eyes shifted from side to side, worried about how much this man really knew about him. Haiiden knew that he was next, and silently waited for Lipesce to point at him. He eventually did point at him but he stared silently at Haiiden and took a deep breath.

"I, unfortunately, do not know YOU," Lipesce pointed at and lowered his hand as he waited for Haiiden to answer. The twin's attention diverted to Haiiden, wondering to themselves as to why he would know everyone else's names except for his. Haiiden sighed as he stared back at Lipesce in the eyes, who in turn maintained eye contact.

"His name is Haiiden," Zed said as he jumped into the conversation, putting an arm around his friend and pulling him close. "You know our names, so why don't you know his?"

For a moment Lipesce sat silently as he looked at Zed. His face not showing a hint of emotion, but rather a cold and calculated stare.

"His file was misplaced on its way here," he lied. Haiiden swallowed to himself nervously at that response, and hung his head a little. Lipesce then stood up, dropping some money on the table, and picked up the folders that he had brought with him. "Now that the introductions are out of the way. We will discuss the mission back at Camp Argo."

Vaughn raised his hand slightly, then spoke. "It'll have to wait a few minutes; I have to go to our suite and retrieve a bag with some equipment and ammunition I'm going to need for the mission."

* * *

Team HAVC made their way to Mistral's central base for the area, Camp Argo, and around them were all different types of military weaponry. Armored vehicles, android weapons, as well as human and Faunus soldiers wearing white armor with large visors. To the twins, this was nothing, almost like home, and they felt slightly refreshed since they had always known the military life. The other two were walking and keeping to themselves, unsure as to how the military worked, but in all honesty, they didn't care. They reached a parked VTOL with a group of around fifty soldiers around it. These soldiers were different from the others, since their armor had different markings. Some were adorned with different symbols that each member had painted on their armor or helmets to help distinguish from one another, as well as to define themselves. Some had spades of daggers painted on their shoulders, while another had a skull painted over his raised visor.

Lipesce led HAVC to the group near the VTOL, and the soldiers turned their heads to see who was approaching. Some looked back to each other to see if anyone knew who they were. Some audibly wondered why command had brought kids to this mission.

"This is one of Mistral's Special Forces Units," Lipesce announced as he introduced the soldiers to HAVC. Most clicked their heels and saluted Lipesce, while others were still scanning the team. "And this is Team Havoc, one of the teams that the Headmaster at Beacon Academy has selected to help with this mission."

"Havoc? Nice name," said one of the soldiers in a sarcastic manner and with a slight chuckle.

"This is just a group of kids; does he realize that this isn't a field trip?" exclaimed another.

"Calm down," Lipesce ordered, motioning his hands down so as to calm the soldiers. "They are from the most prestigious Hunter academy in Vale. The Headmaster has agreed to help with any security issue that might threaten the upcoming Vytal Festival, so this is his way of helping."

Some of the soldiers then shook their heads while others shrugged, indifferent to the situation. One soldier then stepped forward and approached the twins, having noticed the military uniforms, but also the fact that it had a different color than the rest.

"A Huntsman and Huntress in training? Why are you wearing uniforms?" he asked.

"They were raised in a military orphanage, Saint Alban's, in southern Atlas, which was a very serious institution. They learned hand-to-hand combat from the age of eight. They were then adopted by one Colonel Anatolyi Sceryei the age of ten, and were trained under him both in military tactics and the Hunter Arts," Lipesce answered before Cecilia or Vaughn could. Cecilia was left a little surprised that he knew so much about them.

"How did you know that?" she asked.

"I am part of the Mistral's Military Intelligence Division; I hold an O-5 rank, a Colonel in Military Intel. It's my job to know these things," he answered, and motioned for the team to stand in front of the soldiers. When they stopped in front of the group of soldiers, a couple more VTOLs dropped down and landed, but kept their engines running.

"You know why we are here. Intelligence has found that the White Fang are preparing for a massive attack. As you may know, they are more suited for guerilla warfare, but they are getting bolder in their strategies and tactics. They have stolen some military hardware, and are likely responsible for several attacks on some outlying recon camps." With the help of a hologram from his wristwatch, Colonel Lipesce explained the situation while showing pictures to better illustrate what he was talking about, including photos of the common White Fang foot soldier as well as the military hardware that they had stolen, such as the Atlesian Paladin mech.

"Has it been determined that it was the White Fang behind the attacks on the outskirts?" asked one of the soldiers.

"Unfortunately no. Whoever it was they managed to leave nothing behind, so determining who was behind it is currently unlikely, but we have a strong belief that it was the White Fang for reasons that are currently classified. Need to know," Lipesce replied and waved off the soldier, who nodded his head and stepped back into line.

"Our target is a White Fang Lieutenant named Leo, a large cat-Faunus," Lipesce continued, and the image of a large male with a mane of golden hair- which made him oddly resembled a lion- appeared in the holo-projection. He had large muscles that bulged through his shirt, and his biceps tore through the sleeves. Upon seeing this, Zed took a step back and swallowed.

"We do have limited intel on deserters among their ranks: a couple of Lieutenants are among them, but as usual the White Fang have hidden their tracks well, and we don't know who those are," Lipesce said. "We do have reason to believe that one is a female cat-Faunus with black hair and yellow eyes last seen in Vale, and the other is a male fox-Faunus; classification, description, and current whereabouts are unknown."

"So much for the Intel Division," Zed mumbled to himself and sighed in relief.

"Our department is spread pretty thin, between peacetime cutbacks in our budget and resources, and the sudden upsurge of White Fang activity," Lipesce answered after having heard what Zed had mumbled. "We can only get so much done with what is allocated to us."

Lipesce then switched gears. "Expect heavy resistance, their numbers are growing, and their equipment gets better with each passing month," Lipesce said as he finished the briefing, with Team HAVC and the soldiers behind them nodding in acknowledgement.

"We rally for deployment in thirty. Use this time wisely to prepare," he concluded and turned away as he walked towards a group of android soldiers, which greeted him with a robotic salute as he approached.

"Thirty minutes?" Cecilia whispered to Vaughn, who had a worried expression on his face and turned to the bag that he was carrying. "Do you think we have enough time?"

"It is only enough time for a couple more mags. I have two mags already; if I had my full kit from the dorm, I could make at least four, possibly eight more, but two more will have to suffice," He said under his breath, rummaging through the bag before he finally pulled out a jar of the Dust byproduct, "Grey Goose", his cartridge loading kit, as well as a jar of red Dust and a jar white Dust. He sighed to himself as he knew that he would be forced to carry some lethal ammo with him, as well as some Sabot and High Explosive rounds for the heavy military hardware the White Fang were now using. Walking with his sister to a secluded area to get ready, he saw that Haiiden and Zed had already made their way there. Haiiden was sharpening his blade and polishing it, while Zed shadow boxed in the air, trying to get himself psyched for the mission.

Vaughn sat quietly next to Haiiden on the tarmac, and put down the kit and the jars of Dust necessary for mixing, as well as an empty one. Filling the jar halfway with the red Dust, he remembered that the red was supposed to work like gunpowder, creating the force to expel out the projectile. Then pouring a couple spoonfuls of the Grey Goose, which caused the red glow in the Dust to dim slightly. As the two ingredients mixed, the jar began to vibrate slightly, making it hum, which caught everyone else's attention. Haiiden was looking at it with slight reservation, leaning away as he expected the jar to explode in Vaughn's hands. Eventually the jar began to hum louder and louder, making everyone else back away, except for Vaughn, who just sat calmly and poured a third of the white Dust into the jar. The humming subsided, and the glow of the Dust returned, but this time it was a light pink. It slowly faded to just a sliver of pink right before it turned completely white.

Vaughn then smiled, this was a sign that the batch was successful and continued to pour a little more of the white Dust, finishing it off to give it a powerful white glow.

"How does that work?" Haiiden asked as he returned to his seat next to Vaughn after the disaster had been averted.

"This," Vaughn replied as he raised a jar of the Grey Goose in the air for Haiiden to look at. "Is what is left over after refining several varieties of Dust. What is sold is the pure form, which allows us to use magic. However, it is very volatile and requires great care when handling." He poured the white dust into a hopper at the top of his kit, then reached into his bag and pulled out a box of unloaded, rock salt-tipped cartridges, which were a translucent white on the rounded tips, and began to load thirty-six of them into cylindrical slots in the kit, business-end down. Haiiden then remembered when he first tried to use Dust when he trained with Glynda, who shook her head at him in disappointment every time he caused a premature explosion in front of her. Vaughn closed the kit and turned a crank on the kit's side, allowing the Dust mixture to pour evenly into the open ends of the cartridges, filling them almost to the brim. Instead of the Dust acting like a powder, it flowed like liquid mercury, spilling down through tubes from the hopper and into the main, transparent chamber of the kit.

"Due to how volatile it is, it also makes mixing pretty dangerous. This is where the byproduct 'Grey Goose' comes into the equation. When you mix a bit of the Grey Goose, it introduces whatever keeps the Dust from becoming active, but since it has already been refined it causes the Dust to react violently." Vaughn then opened the top again and with painstaking precision, placed the rims with the primer pins on the bottoms of the rounds, whereupon he closed the lid again, then turned the crank in the opposite direction, locking the circular rim "bottoms" into place, which signaled the completion of packing the rounds. He then opened the top of the kit again, and pulled the rounds out one at a time, as he began loading them into a pair of empty magazines he had pulled out of his bag.

"The Grey Goose negates the Dust's properties, so as a result it can rebound and explode. But introducing another form of Dust weakens the byproduct which allows it to retain the properties of the first initial Dust," Vaughn continued his little lesson and paused his loading the magazines to raise the finished product of white Dust that remained in the jar and shook it gently to illustrate his point.

"The properties from the red Dust, which works as a propulsion mechanism, remains intact, but loses some of its strength and therefore its lethality. In other words, the red Dust is mitigated by the white to lower the velocity of the rock-salt projectile so that it doesn't seriously penetrate the victim. It may break the skin, but it won't go through a target like a bullet will," Vaughn finished. Haiiden responded by nodding his head but still couldn't grasp the idea. He was not as good with Dust, so he just left it to someone who knew what he was doing. Vaughn continued to smile politely as he went back to packing up the kit, then standing and mounting his magazines on his belt, but the smile slowly faded as he realized that four full magazines of this non-lethal ammunition probably wouldn't be enough for a mission like this, which meant he might have to switch to lethal rounds during the fight.

"It's is dangerous stuff. The Schnee Company does try its best to provide a variety of high quality Dust, but the type of Dust I need can only be acquired by mixing it myself." Haiiden had just finished sharpening and polishing his blade, then looked up to see what everyone else was doing. Zed was now sitting and waiting patiently for Lipesce to rally them, while Cecilia was sitting silently with her eyes closed as she retreated into her mind, banishing any negative thoughts before the start of her mission so that she could concentrate when it started. Haiiden nodded in approval as everyone was now ready, but then turned as he saw an android staring at him. Haiiden narrowed his eyes at it as he tried to determine if it was looking at him or past him. Then he looked behind him just to make sure. Then, for a moment, a red light blinked in the top right corner of the visor and it walked away. While it retreated, Haiiden continued to stare at it, as he thought that it was strange that it would act in such a way.

"Alright, men!" HAVC heard as Colonel Lipesce called out for everyone's attention. Everyone met back at the VTOL for a final briefing and prep talk before they set out. "Command has asked that we bring in some prisoners for questioning as well as to bring back Leo in one piece at any cost. So if you can, try to leave as many alive as possible. To reiterate: Leo Moreli is NOT to be killed under any circumstances. If you must fire on him, fire to disable, not to kill."

The soldiers nodded their heads while HAVC let out a collective sigh of relief. Haiiden had never killed anyone before and was glad that he was given permission to use non-lethal tactics wherever possible.

* * *

Team HAVC, along with the group of ten soldiers that comprised the special escort squad designated Team Vale boarded one VTOL as it took off and travelled west. Along the way, further orders were given through the intercom as plans were being discussed. Teams HAVC and Vale would be the vanguard during the assault, flying over the compound and landing right on top of its headquarters building, while Team Vale would cover their way in to relieve them of anyone sneaking in from behind to stop them. In the event of Team Vale's Lieutenant and Sergeant being killed in action, Cecilia would take command of the Team. The various fire teams had been given comms so that they could communicate with each other during the mission. In addition to Fire Team Havoc and Fire Team Vale, there were teams designated "Atlas", "Vacuo", "Mantle", as well as "Grimm." All told, a force of about a hundred men went with HAVC, all battle hardened soldiers with experience in the Faunus War, as well as previous fights against the White Fang. HAVC was given free reign, allowing them to jump in and act as they saw fit. However, Ozpin had asked Lipesce to try his best to protect the team, so he had specifically allocated the ten soldiers of Team Vale to work directly with them.

As they made their way, Haiiden watched out the window as he tried to hide his feelings of trepidation. They flew over the forest as they continued to fly west, and in the distance, Haiiden saw a cloud of black smoke leaving the canopy of the forest as the sun dipped lower in the west. He narrowed his eyes to find the source of the smoke, but they flew too fast for him to get a good look.

" _Smoke? Is there a fire?_ " Haiiden thought as they flew far enough away so that he was no longer able to see it. His thoughts were interrupted as his personal comm crackled with life as everyone made one final roll call before they arrived.

"Fire Team Atlas Six, checking in."

"Fire Team Vacuo Six, checking in."

"Fire Team Mantle Six, checking in."

"Fire Team Grimm Six, checking in."

"Fire Team Vale Six, checking in," said the Lieutenant in charge of the men in the VTOL with them. Without a word, he looked to Haiiden, then pointed his finger at him as if to say, "You're up!"

"Fire Team Havoc… I guess Havoc Six, checking in," Haiiden said after pressing the button on his earpiece and replied into the comm.

"Alright everyone, let's make this quick and painless. Get in, get Leo, and get out," Colonel Lipesce announced into the comm, which signaled the start of the mission. The sounds of gunfire could already be heard as they White Fang's anti-air began to fire upon them. Everyone swerved in their seats as the pilot made evasive maneuvers, and flak from the anti-air cannons buffeted the VTOL. Upon looking out, Haiiden could see them flying over a large compound before they hovered to a stop. Soldiers jumped out as the aircraft lowered itself down to allow them a proper exit. Team HAVC jumped out as well, running past a group of soldiers keeping cover in a circle with their backs to each other.

"Charges placed!" Said the soldier with a skull painted on his helmet, obviously the explosives specialist. "You guys ready?"

HAVC nodded in reply before Cecilia created a barrier made of ice to shield them from the blast.

"Fire in the hole!" cried Skull, and detonated.

The ground shook around them as the soldier blew a hole on top of the roof of the compound. The barrier quickly melted, and HAVC was the first to jump into the breach. As he landed, Haiiden quickly rolled forward as he dodged the attack of a White Fang soldier that was waiting for him. He then swung his sword at the legs of another soldier as he quickly got back on his feet; the strike struck the Faunus's shin guards, and tripped his enemy. As he fell forward, Haiiden brought up his knee into his opponent's head, the strike forcing him onto his back and left him unconscious as Haiiden moved to his next target. He quickly swung his blade to the left to deflect the next oncoming attack, and used the momentum of the swing to spin and bring his elbow up into his opponent's head.

From behind, Vaughn was providing cover fire with his sniper rifle, but his rate of fire was slow as he husbanded his rounds. The assault rifle had a much faster rate of fire, and could be set for fully automatic, three-round burst, or single shot, but Haiiden knew that the sniper mode had more kick, and thus more stopping power. Vaughn took time with his shots, choosing priority targets and knocked them out with one, clean shot. Cecilia was leading a group of soldiers as their Lieutenant was taken out immediately upon entering the top floor of the building. She swung her sword as it glowed with its ethereal flame; she dispatched her enemies and provided cover with her barriers for the soldiers to hide behind.

Zed jumped down onto the catwalk and immediately rushed forward with his karambit, pushing himself forward and jumping from side to side as he dodged incoming shots. When he got close enough, the soldiers tried to strike Zed with the butts of their rifles, but missed as Zed ducked under them. With a quick strike, he pushed his arm forward and sliced at a White Fang soldier's leg, cutting deeply into his flesh. The Faunus yelped in pain and tried to turn to face Zed, but the pain in his leg, coupled with the damaged muscle, kept him from moving. Thinking the threat was neutralized, Zed continued forward with a series of non-lethal attacks. Twisting another soldier's arm while ducking underneath it, he then kicked a soldier in his ribs as the Faunus came to help his comrade.

The kick immediately knocked his opponent to the ground, so Zed twisted his opponent's arm further to inflict as much pain as possible. Now Zed had control, forcing him down onto his stomach before pulling on his arm to dislocate it. After his group of soldiers was dealt with, Zed turned to see if his teammates were alright. He could see that Vaughn had joined with Haiiden, finishing up their group while Cecilia was contacting Lipesce.

"This is Havoc Four re-designating as Vale Six," She announced onto the comm. "Lieutenant Rigel and Sergeant Matthews are either critically wounded or dead. First room now cleared; no sign of Leo yet. Over."

"Roger, Vale Six. All members of Fire Team Vale, you will form up on Havoc Four – now re-designated as Vale Six, and follow her orders for the duration of this mission. Her effective rank is Acting Lieutenant, and you will treat her as such. Good Hunting. Out," Lipesce responded.

" _This is my chance_ ," Zed thought to himself as he quietly continued forward without his team. He ran through a corridor, and took out a couple of enemies who were supposed to help reinforce the upper levels of the headquarters building. The attack thus far was a success in a way, as the White Fang didn't expect such a sudden and overwhelming assault, and it seemed that their full force wasn't entirely in position. Zed grinned at the thought, making his way to a door and busting through it shoulder-first. A group of soldiers inside immediately turned to face Zed, but he had already kicked a table that was in the room at them and knocked them out. As he scanned the room, his eyes turned orange as they met with Leo's.

Leo looked at Zed with his emotions ranging from confusion to shock.

"Zed Ignis?" Leo asked and narrowed his eyes, as he thought his mind was playing tricks.

"Leo Moreli," Zed answered as he confirmed that it was him and banishing all doubt.

Leo chuckled. "What are you doing here? Why would you help the humans attack your brothers? Hell, we used to picket and protest together," Leo asked as he raised his hands and backed away from Zed, eyeing Zed's karambit nervously as he retreated against a control panel that overlooked a large storage warehouse behind him.

"We're no longer brothers, Leo. I'm here for information, but taking out this White Fang terror cell in Mistral is a bonus," Zed growled as he approached Leo with his shoulders broadened and gripped his karambit.

"You are a traitor to your own kind!" Leo growled in return, but it wasn't as intimidating as Zed's as he was still nervous while eyeing the karambit, remembering how dangerous Zed was with it.

"No. YOU are the traitor! ADAM is the traitor! You all went against what the White Fang stood for!" Zed responded as his left hand shot up and gripped Leo's throat. Despite Leo's large size, Zed was still able to lift him off the ground with the help of his Semblance. Leo looked down nervously at Zed as he put his hands over Zed's wrists.

"Now tell me: where is Torchwick?!" Zed asked as he leaned in closer to Leo.

"Zed? Havoc Two, where are you?" Zed heard over the comm which caught him off guard. His eyes turning back to green as he glanced from left to right. He gritted his teeth at the interruption. "Havoc Two, this is Havoc Six, respond!"

"Shove off, Zed!" Leo roared, taking advantage of Zed's distraction and forced himself back onto the floor. Claws protruded from his fingertips and he tore into Zed's arm, allowing Leo to throw him out the window into the warehouse. Zed's back struck the window and the glass shattered as the throw was strong enough to break it. He fell to the two stories to the floor with a thud, but just as he hit it, something kicked him in the back, which forced him forward. Zed slid along the floor, but then rolled back onto his feet. His eyes turned orange again as he scanned his surroundings: nothing was there, and this left him wondering what hit him. Suddenly another attack from the back of the head made Zed stagger forward, and as he turned to face his opponent, he realized no one was there.

"Don't be a coward, Leo!" Zed yelled out in frustration and began to turn in circles to cover his sides. Remembering that Leo's semblance allowed him to turn invisible for a brief interval, then the air and ground shook as an explosion blasted the doors to the storage site wide open, and Mistral's soldiers began to pour in, joined by HAVC, as they began to take up positions and to scan the area for any more White Fang.

"Where were you Zed?" Haiiden asked as he ran up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Zed was breathing heavily at this point, not from fatigue but out of anger as well as fear, fear that his only lead to Torchwick had run away. Suddenly a large thud shook the ground repeatedly, and only got louder as something big got closer and closer. Then, suddenly, a wall broke down on the western end of the warehouse, and from the hole emerged a large bipedal mech, the Atlesian Paladin mentioned during their mission briefing.

"Command! This is Vale Two! We got a Paladin!" One of the soldiers said as he went straight for the comm upon seeing the machine.

"Must be the experimental one that was stolen!" Lipesce responded.

"You chose the wrong side, Zed," everyone heard as Leo's voice seemed to come from everywhere around them.

" _Wait; he knows Zed_?" Haiiden thought as he kept his gaze on the Paladin.

The Paladin then braced itself as it prepared the rocket launching device that was attached to its left arm. Everyone immediately knew what was coming and spread out as it opened fire. A couple soldiers got caught in the initial explosion, while others hid behind cover and those that didn't were protected by Cecilia's ice barrier. However, the explosion still managed to break through the ice, but not before the soldiers managed to get out of the way. Cecilia cursed to herself as there wasn't enough water in the air to produce thick enough cover. Too many fires outside from the initial attack had left the air dry.

"Wait! Zed!" everyone heard as Haiiden yelled out and ran after his friend as Zed rushed towards the Paladin; it shot a few rockets at him, making Zed come to a sudden stop, but he then kicked onto the ground to force him into an immediate and unexpected right turn. The rockets narrowly missed, and sent up debris at Haiiden, but he managed to block the small chunks from hitting his face with his gauntlet. As Zed circled to find an opening, Haiiden rushed to help his friend, and went in for the legs. He slashed at them, but his blade just scraped the metal armor, futilely.

A couple shots landed at Zed's feet which made him almost trip as he tried to dodge. He turned to see that some White Fang soldiers had come through the hole that the Paladin had made and joined in the attack.

"All Mistral Special Forces Fire Teams: let Team Havoc deal with the Paladin. Provide cover and attack the remaining White Fang!" Lipesce yelled as he also joined in the assault with a group of androids behind him. Pulling out two tonfas that he kept behind him that also doubled as pistols with long barrels, he began to fire at the White Fang foot soldiers. Cecilia noticed that the soldiers took HAVC's example of not killing their enemies, some shot the White Fang soldiers in the legs or arms to incapacitate them. However it made the Special Forces' jobs harder, as the White Fang didn't pay them the same courtesy. Some of the Special Forces were gunned down as the White Fang returned fire.

Vaughn went to switch his magazine for one labeled "Sabot", but Haiiden ran and stopped him by lowering his rifle. "Vaughn, that's Leo in there; we need him alive!" In reply, Vaughn put away the Sabot rounds and switched in a magazine labeled "HE" for "High Explosive", and began to take precise shots at any weak points he could identify on the Paladin, namely the joints. In contrast, a Sabot round would have injected a white-hot oblong piece of metal into the cockpit, and bounced around the interior, turning the occupant into Vacuo cheese. As Vaughn kept firing, he found that the Paladin simply moved around too much as it tried to stomp on Haiiden and fire at Zed. Cecilia rushed in to help, jumping and slashing her heavy claymore at the shoulder of the Paladin. The attack managed to knock off some of the titanium armor on the shoulder, and Leo noticed, turning the Paladin around as Cecilia landed back on the ground. She turned to see the torso of the Paladin swivel in her direction and saw that the large arm was coming for her. She took a deep breath and braced herself, expecting it to hit her. Then something knocked her down to the ground and she heard a large metallic bang a split second later.

She kept her eyes shut, thinking that she had been struck by the arm, but she felt no pain, just the discomfort of having being pushed out of the way and the scrape of the concrete floor against the side of her face. Then she saw Haiiden fly through the air, but managed to catch himself and land on his feet. When he tried to walk forward, he ended up falling to his knees and clutched at his stomach. That was when she realized that he had pushed her out of the way, and had taken the hit. Zed stared wide eyed as he saw his friend get slammed by the titanium fist, and how he had staggered to get up. His eyes flared bright orange and he let out a yell as he began to rush the Paladin again.

However, Vaughn had already made it to the Paladin before him as he jumped onto its leg. As he landed on it, he jumped again to dodge another attack from the mech as it tried to hit him with its arms again. To put it simply, Vaughn was too close for Leo to use the rockets or his gun without hitting himself, and Leo would have to disable the limiter in order to do so anyway, a procedure he was unlikely to be familiar with, since his training on the device was obviously limited from the way he utilized it in combat. As the arm missed, Vaughn then landed on top of its other arm and ran down to the cockpit before jumping to latch behind the Paladin. He spotted the shoulder where Cecilia had stripped the armor of and brought his gun up to fire. After a few bursts of his assault rifle, the structural integrity of the arm weakened and it slumped, the spot where Vaughn had shot was radiating some sparks.

Zed joined up with Vaughn as he then jumped on the opposite side of the torso and nodded to Vaughn. As he responded with a nod of his own, Vaughn back flipped off the Paladin and jumped away as he kept his gun trained on it. Placing his left foot on the Paladin as a brace, Zed began to pull on the unit's arm as he finally tore it off and threw it away with the help of his Aura; it landed several yards away with a loud crash, and twitched for a few seconds before laying still. The Paladin shook as Leo tried to get Zed off, the shaking threw off Cecilia's aim and made her miss her strike as she shaved off another piece of armor, but this time in an inconsequential place. As she got ready for another strike, she saw Haiiden appear from the corner of her eye. He wound his arm back and slashed at the now exposed servos on the leg. The strike severed the connections to the rest of the Paladin, making it limp as it tried to move. Taking this opportunity, Cecilia pulled back and swung at the exposed servos, the strike complimented Haiiden's and the leg collapsed and fell away from the rest of its body.

The Paladin then lost balance at the loss of its leg and fell over onto its side. Zed jumped on its cockpit, and began to punch at the hatch cover with the help of his Semblance. The world seemed to slow down around him for a moment as he remembered that he never liked his Semblance.

" _I can't help it_ ," he thought. The feeling stirred up by fighting the White Fang and the thought of finally finding Torchwick had made him angry. Most of all, seeing his friend get hurt had especially ticked him off. He began to punch downward onto the cockpit, at first his strikes just dented the metal. His hands didn't hurt as it came into contact with the titanium, or maybe he was too lost in the bloodlust to notice. Then the dents turned into a hole and Zed could see Leo covering his face as he feared that he would be struck by Zed. Zed pulled the metal sheeting out of the way to make the hole big enough and reached in grab Leo. As he took hold of the Faunus Lieutenant, he literally threw him out of his seat in the Paladin and jumped off before Leo's body had landed on the ground.

He cracked his neck to loosen himself up a bit, his eyes turning back to their normal green as he knew that he didn't need his Semblance anymore. Leo was beaten. As he approached, he saw that the Faunus was trying to crawl away and was whimpering as he did so. Zed quickly turned back to Haiiden to see that Cecilia was helping him up, wincing in pain as he got to his feet, and it made a jolt of pain shoot through his body. The Mistral soldiers were just mopping up with the last of the White Fang, and were rounding up many survivors that had surrendered. Zed then realized that he had some time with Leo before they would come for him next. He kicked Leo in his ribs to force him on his back, only to see that Leo was looking up at him and shivering in fear.

"Please don't hurt me, Zed!" Leo said with a shiver as Zed knelt down and grabbed him by the shirt. Zed looked at him with a quirked brow before a grin appeared on his face.

"Oh Leo, you were always the textbook example of 'the cowardly lion,'" Zed said as his grin grew wider, leaning in closer to Leo.

"Yes Zed, anything you say, Zed." Leo responded as he raised his hands to cover his face, expecting Zed to start beating him down as he used to before.

"Now tell me: Where. Is. Torchwick?" Zed demanded.

"I don't know!" Leo responded as he kept his face covered but looked at Zed from between his fingers. Zed's grin disappeared and his face showed a bit of disamusement as he raised his fist in the air.

"No! I swear I don't know! We get shipments from him! We have invoices! In the office!" Leo cried out as Zed brought his fist down, stopping it right before it touched Leo, as he mentioned the invoices.

"Invoices?" Zed asked.

"Yes! Maybe they will show you where he is!" Leo exclaimed with a sheepish smile, hoping that this would save him from a beating. Zed nodded at him in acknowledgement and set him down slowly but still held a grip on his shirt.

"Ok. Thanks Leo," Zed responded with a smile and brought Leo up again before punching him in the jaw. The strike knocked him out instantly. He then turned back and walked in the direction of the office. Haiiden then saw that Zed was walking towards them, and went to meet him but then stopped as Zed walked past him.

"Zed?" he asked lightly, which forced Zed to stop. Now knowing that his cover had been potentially blown, he knew he had to do whatever it took to get any info he could on Torchwick. "How did he know you?"

Zed didn't know how to respond at first, there were soldiers all around him and he feared that they would hear him.

"I promise I will explain later!" Zed said as he ran towards a staircase that led to an office.

"No. Wait!" Haiiden yelled out after him but staggered forward as another jolt of pain shot through his body. Desperately wanting to go after his friend, especially after hearing his promise and hoping that this time it wasn't false. How many times he had heard "I will explain later," and ended up with no explanation at all?

Zed made his way into the office, only to notice that soldiers from Team Mantle were already inside and searching through the room. As they worked, they threw papers around to find anything relevant to the White Fang, as well as how or where they got their equipment. They didn't seem to notice Zed walk in, however, which allowed him to sneak around to find the invoices. A lot of the papers were on the floor, which made it hard for Zed to sort through them, and he wondered if they were the invoices, but then realized that they couldn't be it if the soldiers had just thrown them away. He then noticed a few cabinets that hadn't been touched yet, and instantly knew he had to search those. He quickly opened the first couple of cabinet doors, finding nothing but cards of information as well as some papers with nothing interesting on them.

Then he opened another cabinet and something caught his attention; inside were lists of orders, as well as what came in the crates and packages delivered to the compound.

"Bingo," he whispered to himself, and quickly took them before running out of the office. As he went down the stairs, he hid the invoices in his shirt so that the Mistral soldiers wouldn't get at them. He met up with Haiiden and his teammates with a smile while holding his arms out.

"Now, tell me how he knew you," Haiiden demanded, getting annoyed at Zed's attempts to avoid the subject. With anger, he remembered how he was back at Beacon when Zed first showed signs of acting strangely.

"I said I will explain later," Zed responded with a frown; he had lied to Haiiden many times and had gotten away with it. To see that his lies had caught up with him had hurt him, but not as much as the thought that his friend would realize that he had being lied to, and for how long. Haiiden narrowed his eyes and took a few quick breaths, the stress causing his body to ache and he tried to open his mouth to speak. "As soon as we don't have eyes on us, I promise I will tell you," Zed promised.

"Good job, Team Havoc," Colonel Lipesce said as he jumped in and was either oblivious or simply didn't care that he was interrupting. "You left quite a few alive, and we caught Leo with barely a scratch on him."

Nobody in Team HAVC knew how to respond to that, as he sounded almost disappointed. Nobody in the team had ever killed anyone before except for Cecilia, and even she didn't want to do that again.

"You left more than enough people to bring in for questioning, which makes my job easier," Lipesce continued and smiled at the team. "But your job here is over."

* * *

Zed was sitting next to Haiiden, and seemed to hover over him protectively as they flew back to Mistral, eyeing anyone who got too close to him. Haiiden was avoiding trying to talk to him for now, as he was upset at Zed's attempt to avoid a conversation. However, even if he wanted to talk he would have to talk through the pain in his ribs. It was nothing too serious, no breaks or fractures, just some massive bruising, including six bruised ribs, thanks to the protection of his Aura. With some help of some opiate pain medication from unit's medic, the pain had died down to just a dull throbbing, but it had started to annoy him further, Haiiden shook the pill bottle in his hand and, checking the time on his scroll, he realized that he was due for another dose of Harucodone. Lipesce sat silently as he went over some information on his Scroll, while Cecilia was leaning against Vaughn as she slept. To keep his mind of his thoughts, Haiiden then looked out the window and watched as they flew over the expanse of the forest, but something then caught his eye. It was the same cloud of smoke that he saw on the way to the White Fang base, and a golden glow from the forest all around it, which was evident now that the sun had gone down. He turned towards the window to get a better look, with Zed and Lipesce noting this change.

"Wait. What is that?" he asked and Lipesce looked out the window to see what it was.

"I don't see anything," he replied and shrugged his shoulders.

"No, right there; see it?" He asked again and he went to knock on the door to the cockpit of the VTOL. "There's a forest fire down there. Bring us around!" Lipesce sighed, and repeated the order to the pilot.

Everyone turned in their seats as the VTOL made a one-hundred-eighty degree turn, the sudden movement made Cecilia bang her head, which forced her to wake up. She rubbed her head angrily at first, but then her mood changed as she saw Haiiden kneeling next to them as he looked out their window.

"There! Land there!" He said and pointed out the window. Lipesce inched closer to the window and narrowed his eyes before spotting the same cloud of smoke and the fire that Haiiden had seen. The pilot didn't land just yet, as Haiiden had no authority over him, but then Lipesce waved to the pilot and again repeated the order, to signal that it was okay. The VTOL slowed down as it approached the smoke, its spotlights revealing a clearing in the forest as well as a log cabin in the middle, which was engulfed in flames, as was the tree line behind it. The VTOL lowered itself, as there was just enough room for one to land and the others flew past them, headed back to Camp Argo after Lipesce ordered the remaining craft to return to base without delay. Haiiden swung the doors of the VTOL open and stepped off before it came to a complete stop.

Everyone else on Team HAVC got off as well, looking in confusion as they wondered why they had landed here. A couple of armed soldiers got off as well and kept close to Lipesce. No one else moved away from the VTOL as they looked at the cottage, everyone but Lipesce wondering why there was a home this far away from the Kingdom. As she gazed from the roof of the building and scanned her way down, Cecilia thought she recognized it, but couldn't quite remember where she had seen it. As she lowered her gaze, she noticed that Haiiden was already a few yards ahead of them as he walked towards the cabin as the left part of it collapsed into flaming ruin. Team HAVC ran to join him, leaving Lipesce behind as he watched while shaking his head.

"What is it?" Zed asked Haiiden but he seemed to have not noticed the question, stepping forward to the door of the cottage. He called out to see if anyone was trapped inside before banging on the door with his gauntlet; he could feel the heat through the armor. In front of the door were two empty and scorched kerosene cans. "This was arson," Cecilia whispered softly.

When there was no response, Haiiden then turned work his way around the cottage to the right, around the wall that was still standing. As he did so, Cecilia drew her Claymore and ran her finger along the blade, summoning a mass of blue flame unlike any that her teammates had seen before. As Zed and Vaughn watched, it began to rain over the cottage and the forest fire, a driving rain that slowly began to extinguish the flames as she watched with a satisfied smile upon her face. After a few moments, the three followed Haiiden around to the right, as he had not yet returned from his investigation of the side and back of the cabin.

"Sir?" Cecilia asked, a hint of concern in her voice as she staggered forward a little from the choking grey smoke as the wind changed direction temporarily. As they turned the corner to meet with Haiiden, they saw him standing there, and he seemed to be frozen in place. The rest of the team hesitantly walked to see what he was looking at; to their shock, they found a large, obviously male body at Haiiden's feet, charred, smoking, and sizzling in the rain and smoke, with an obvious pair of bullet holes in his forehead.

"Double-tap to the head," Cecilia said without emotion. "Execution. Very professional."

"Poor guy. To be murdered and burned like this, along with all his belongings," Vaughn said under his breath as he was unsure at first if he should say anything at all. Cecilia turned away once the fire was completely out, the black smoke having turned to white once the flames had died completely. She simply couldn't look at the corpse anymore, while Zed covered his mouth in disgust. Meanwhile, Haiiden shifted in position, feeling a bit of his soul die as he continued to look upon the corpse.

"I see you have discovered one of the Kingdom's best kept secrets," Haiiden heard from behind as Lipesce spoke. He turned to face him, only to see that Colonel Lipesce was looking down at the body with disdain, his hands behind his back.

"What do you mean: 'best kept secret'?" Vaughn asked, swallowing back his disgust as he turned away from the body to look at Lipesce.

"Excisement," Lipesce replied as he practically dared them to ask him to elaborate.

"He's not a tumor! Since when do we 'excise' civilians?!" Cecilia asked before turning to Haiiden, who stood stunned at the sight and was unable to look away.

"This is not the Kingdom of Vale, child. The rules are different here, and this is an extremely rare punishment, which is only meant for those who have done something very, very naughty. The Kingdoms and the Councils have cooperated in hiding it well by erasing all trace of this person's existence: bank accounts, personal history, birth certificate and even his name has been wiped from all electronic and printed records," Lipesce continued.

"Do you know who he was?" Haiiden asked, a slight whimper in his voice as he thought of his father.

"No," Lipesce immediately answered, as if he had expected Haiiden to ask the question.

"That's messed up. Come on, he had to have had a name," Zed responded with a raised brow, as Lipesce's answer left him confused.

"Oh. I am sure that he had a name. I just don't know it, and now, literally no one else does, either," Lipesce replied to Zed's question, which only left him more confused. This exchange caught the attention of both Vaughn and Cecilia, who still wanted to avoid looking at the body and hesitantly turned to face Lipesce.

"He is an example of what happens to those who shame the Kingdom, and I am sure the other Kingdoms have a similar punishment, whether they acknowledge it or not. For all I know, he could have just been an ordinary man, or even a hero, but in the end his name and identity was stripped from him. In death, he knows no privilege of rank, no privilege of person, or property." Lipesce continued as he turned away. "There is nothing we can do for him now, and nothing we wish to do to honor his memory; he is an un-person, and therefore never existed."

Haiiden's eyes widened as he heard what Lipesce had said, and how he simply turned his back when he was finished. His throat burned and he was on the verge of choking as he held himself back; the wind had shifted again and the smoke engulfed everyone; several soldiers coughed explosively. He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes angrily at Lipesce as he walked away.

"What do you mean nothing? We can't just leave him here!" Haiiden yelled out, catching his team off-guard with his concern for a dead man.

"The law regarding people like him doesn't permit me to do anything. We help people, and as far as I am concerned, you need a name to even be considered a person," Lipesce replied coldly as he turned to look back at Haiiden through the corners of his eyes. Haiiden then gritted his teeth and tightened his fists while his nostrils flared. Then all of a sudden, he relaxed his hand as he had an idea. He walked past Lipesce and at first the man smiled as he thought that Haiiden was finally going back to the VTOL, but then saw Haiiden turn and made his way to a small shed next to the cottage, which had been untouched by the fire. He stopped for a moment in front of it before stepping back to kick in the door, which had a padlock on it. Only after it was wide open and hanging by the lower hinge did he step inside. His team peered from around the corner to see what had happened, only to see Haiiden emerge from the shed with a shovel and a plastic tarp in hand.

"This is a waste of time, boy," Lipesce said with a sigh and the soldiers raised their weapons at Haiiden. At first, Lipesce wondered why his soldiers reacted in such a way, but then saw how Haiiden was standing. His shoulders back, a shovel in hand, a potential weapon and his eyes were narrowed at Lipesce. No wonder the soldiers readied their weapons, his stance made Haiiden look like he was ready to fight.

Cecilia stepped up. "Team Vale, lower your weapons; as you were!" she ordered. The soldiers reluctantly obeyed their temporary commander.

"Then leave," Haiiden responded after Cecilia finished her orders, and turned to go back around the corner. This response caught Lipesce off guard for a moment, and he followed to see if Haiiden was going to do what Lipesce thought he might. He turned the corner to see Haiiden already wrapping the body in the blue plastic tarp, while Zed stood over him. He knelt down to try and help, but Haiiden was so engrossed in his task that he didn't even notice Zed's request to help.

"Leave him, or we will leave you," Lipesce growled.

"Then leave," Haiiden said again, but this time not giving him the respect of actually looking back at him. He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath as he turned to his team with a soft smile. "Go with him guys, I'll be back at Mistral eventually."

The team then looked down at him with sullen faces, with Cecilia even taking another look at the body, the tarp making it easier to look at him, but still she forced herself to look out of pity, wondering to herself what this man could have done to be abandoned by the Kingdom in such a way. She wondered if he was a good man, and why he had to die in such a lonely and miserable way. The team then silently shook their heads as they began to empathize with Haiiden, and converted to his way of thinking.

"Yes, leave," Cecilia said with a smirk on her face as she realized that Lipesce was bluffing. "Although I am curious as to how you will explain to Headmaster Ozpin how and why you left us here."

Lipesce opened his mouth as his eyes darted back between the dead body and back to Cecilia. He was too versed in the art of prevarication to stammer out an answer, but he couldn't come up with an easy lie, so he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut for the moment. He turned to the VTOL, making a signal with his hand and then the pilot turned off the engines. He then motioned for the soldiers to take positions with one climbing on to the top of the VTOL's fuselage to scout out the area.

"If I ever die before I graduate," Zed said while he watched the soldiers move into position, then looked back at the body and his face contorted as he felt disgust, "don't bury me. I don't want to think of me turning into that. Cremate me instead, leave nothing left but ashes, and scatter me in the gardens at Beacon."

Rather than feel weird or awkward at what Zed had requested, Haiiden instead felt slight amusement by it. He let out a scoff and then a chuckle as he continued to wrap up the body.

"Don't talk like that," he told Zed and shook his head.

"Yeah, well, I at least want someone to know my wishes," Zed replied. After Haiiden was done wrapping the body, he then stood up and took the shovel. About a couple yards away, he looked at the ground for a few moments before he struck the ground with the head of the shovel, and began to dig. After an hour passed, Cecilia then jumped into the hole that Haiiden had made, which was not big enough for a body just yet, and offered to take the shovel from him. Haiiden felt that this was his responsibility and politely declined his comrade's offer to help, but she shook her open palm at him, her head turned away to the side, and persisted while she refused to look him in the eye.

"Give it to me. I need to do this. _We_ need to do this together, Captain." Haiiden looked at the shovel, and then back to Cecilia, and silently handed it over with a nod as she turned to look at him.

Another couple more hours passed by, as Haiiden and Cecilia took turns, and finally finished the grave that they had dug. Haiiden was the one who completed the task, and when he was done, he came to the edge to climb out of the open grave, only to see that Cecilia had her hand ready to receive her Captain's; Cecilia felt a newfound sense of respect for him since he was willing to lay a disappeared man to rest. After being pulled out of the hole with Cecilia's help, Haiiden then approached the body and proceeded to pick it up. The fatigue had begun to set in, and he struggled to pick up the body until Vaughn and Zed came to help, as did Cecilia. The four of them carried it gently and set it down into the hole and slowly lowered it by holding the edges of the tarp.

Another hour passed by as Haiiden and Cecilia took turns filling the hole again, while Lipesce looked on impatiently, checking his watch from time to time. After the hole was filled, HAVC stood over the mound that marked where the man was buried. All of them wondered the same thoughts as to how to mark the grave, all without saying a word. After realizing that they really had nothing else to mark it with, Haiiden brought the shovel head down so that the handle stuck out of the ground.

"I am sorry. I wished I had known who you were," he said, loud enough for even the soldiers to hear, but they didn't turn as they kept scanning the forest. Then, Haiiden turned to Lipesce and narrowed his eyes at him, as he felt a sense of profound hatred for people like him, as well as someone else in particular. "I wish I had known your name, to speak it aloud and show that there are people who still care, and remember you."

For Cecilia, this was not enough, however. As she still commanded Team Vale, which consisted of five surviving men and one woman, she called out drill instructions. "Squad, Fall In! Vaughn, Fall In!"

The soldiers formed a line in front of Cecilia, at the edge of the grave, their weapons in hand, with Vaughn at the far end. Cecilia began to walk down the line, inspecting them as she paced. "Squad, Stand to Attention!" she barked.

The soldiers stood at attention and clicked their heels together in unison, Vaughn included.

"Present, ARMS!" This time, the soldiers held their assault rifles out four inches from their chests, diagonally. Cecilia continued: "This man has no name, no identity. We do not know if he was a soldier, or what he did to warrant his punishment. We do not care. We will show respect, and we will offer military honors in any case, whether he served in the military or not. You are his honor guard, men."

A couple of soldiers broke attention and briefly looked at each other, before snapping to attention again. "Ready!" Cecilia barked again. "Aim!" Behind her, Colonel Lipesce rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in disgust.

The soldiers aimed their rifles toward the sky, above the smoldering tree line, and as she paused for a beat, she thought of her adopted father, Colonel Anatolyi Sceryei, and how he had been denied military honors and burial because of his dishonorable discharge. Even though there was no body, his children, the twins, wanted to lay a marker for him, out of respect and in fond memory, but as his estate was still tied up in probate at the time, they had no money for such honors. For some reason, Cecilia felt as though she was burying him at last, and this time, she was doing it the right way.

"Fire!" Without hesitation, the seven soldiers fired in unison. A tear silently rolled down Cecilia's cheek.

"Fire!" A second volley, and as Cecilia looked, she saw a crystalline trail on Vaughn's cheek, glistening in the light of the shattered moon, and knew that he felt exactly as she did.

"Fire!" The third and final volley rang out, and Cecilia tried not to burst into tears. As the shots finished echoing through the forest, it was suddenly quiet. Too quiet. Lost in thoughts so thick she could almost reach out and touch them, she forgot where she was and what she was doing. Suddenly, she snapped back to reality and realized that nearly five second had passed as the men stood with their rifles still aimed at the sky.

"Order, ARMS!" she called, and the men lowered their weapons in unison and placed them at their sides, with the butts against the ground and their fingers curled around the still-smoking barrels.

"Squad, DISMISSED!" Cecilia cried out, and the men began to mill about, their final duty done for the day. Vaughn came up to her, and as much as she wanted to draw him into a tender hug, her military decorum, coupled with the fact that her teammates and the soldiers of Team Vale were watching, prevented her from doing so. She settled for grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him close. As their heads butted together gently, she said in a somber tone, "I love you, Vaughn."

Vaughn pressed his forehead against hers, and placed a hand upon her shoulder in reciprocation, his cheeks wet. "I love you, sis. Thank you for that. It felt like finally burying dad."

She gave a weak smile and wiped the tears from his cheeks with her gloved fingers.

* * *

Afterwards, they all departed, each member of HAVC expressing a final salute of one kind or another to the grave of the deceased man. Everyone then got back into the VTOL and made their way back to Camp Argo. There was a final debriefing back at the base, as the last of the prisoners had already been processed and either taken to the medical wards or placed in holding cells, and everyone exchanged congratulations. Even some of the Special Forces soldiers had come to admire Team HAVC, and weren't shy in telling them so. They were impressed that a few kids had done so well and exclaimed that if all Hunters were like this, then there would soon be no need for the military. As they made their farewells, Lipesce then approached and offered to personally walk them back to the hotel to grab their belongings. After stopping by the Hotel Il Palazzo to collect their things, Lipesce then called for a limousine to drive them and their luggage to the airport. Naturally, he rode along to offer them a few words of thanks as they rode.

"It was a pleasure, Team HAVC. I hope I have the opportunity to work with you again, soon," he said as he kept a stern face about him, and almost sounded sarcastic. He still felt slightly annoyed for Haiiden making them wait just to bury a disgraced and dead man. HAVC then nodded and waved goodbye; Haiiden was just about to step forward into the landing pad before he saw someone that he recognized. With a start, he realized that it was the young woman that he had danced with earlier. She still seemed to glow, despite the fact that it was midnight now, and Haiiden wondered why she would be out so late at night.

He waved for his team to go ahead without him, as he slowly approached the young woman again. As he got closer, he noticed a soft smile and that was when he began to feel slightly guilty.

"Hey," was all he able to say.

"Hey," she replied sweetly and the voice seemed to tickle his ears a little.

"I- I would like to apologize for how I reacted earlier," he said as he turned away, feeling too guilty to look her in the eye.

"It's alright. To be honest, I don't think before I speak, so I'd like to say I'm sorry, too," she replied sweetly again, the fact that she was so nice to him despite how he reacted to her kept him from looking up. The fact that she would come over and apologize when she had done nothing wrong only worsened that feeling. He heard footsteps getting closer to him, and he looked up to see that she was standing in front of him, within arm's reach. He swallowed lightly and couldn't help but give off a smile.

"I- I never really got the chance to ask you your name," he said sheepishly and looked away as he scratched the back of his head. Only after he was done did he look back at her.

"You said you were attending Beacon Academy, correct?" she asked him as she kept eye contact with him.

"Yes?" he replied with a hint of confusion. He did tell her that before so he wondered what her point was.

"A hero in training," she said with a giggle and tilted her head at him, her blonde hair hanging down her head while some locks covered her eyes. "I'll tell you what, maybe you can make it up to me. When you become a hero, then I will tell you my name."

Haiiden rode back to Vale with a soft smile upon his face as he slept.


	16. Vol 1: Chapter 16

( **Three days after Chapter 15** )

Ash smiled as he stood in the middle of a group of Atlesian soldiers with their rifles trained upon him. For a moment, Ash found it amusing that they hadn't been told that he would be arriving, but he hoped that this would quickly turn into a bloodbath. That thought made the smile on his face grow wider, although it really didn't matter to him either way. He was bored, and wished that someone would make the wrong move to make the night more exciting. The soldiers kept their postures, not moving from their positions, but it didn't look as though they were about to fire. They were paid to avoid shooting anyone who merely looked strange, and Ash was the strangest of all the people who had passed by this place.

"Put your weapons down; I promise it won't end well for you if you don't," Ash announced as he turned to look at each soldier before he stopped to look at one in particular. He was the twitchiest of the bunch, as if he was frightened and on edge. Ash grinned as he looked him in the eye through the soldier's visor. The soldier shifted nervously, unsure as to why he would be looking at him, and cursed himself as he was singled out. The reaction made the grin on Ash's face grow even wider as he stepped closer to the soldier, while the others stepped forward in case he were to try and pull something.

"Indeed," A voice called from an open doorway, and a man in a lab coat stepped through. "Lower your weapons, he is not a threat to us. If he was, you would already be dead."

"Ah, my good Doctor," Ash said with a smile as he spread his arms out as if he was offering a hug. The Doctor kept a passive face, as this was nothing new to him, and waved for Ash to join him in his office. Ash smirked as he watched the group of soldiers part in front of him, just like the story of Brennan and the Parting of the Great Salt Lake; still, they felt extremely uneasy about who Ash might be as they slowly lowered their weapons. Some turned to each other and shook their heads as they walked away, knowing that it would be better to not get into the Doctor's business. Then, he turned back to the soldier whom he had glared at and stopped in front of him to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Good man," he told the soldier, brushing off a bit of Dust from his shoulder armor and gave it a squeeze. "Keep up the good work," Ash concluded before he then patted the soldier on the cheek of his helmet and turned to walk into the office.

"Shut the door," The Doctor ordered him as he sat back down onto the seat behind his desk. He turned to make sure that Ash had shut the door, and watched as he locked it for good measure, only turning away when he had heard the metallic "clack" as the door was secured.

"Are you sure they can be trusted, Lisle?" Ash asked as he gritted his teeth slightly. The welcome he had received had left him a little agitated, even though he hid it behind a smile. For a moment he wondered if Lisle was one of the many people who had betrayed him, just like Buddy. And like Buddy, they would all be killed when he determined them to be loose ends.

"Every man has a price, Ash. You do not need to worry," Lisle reassured him, refusing to show any hint of outward emotion, as he knew that he had nothing to worry about from Ash. Ever since he had been exiled by his Master for his failure, Cinder took control of operations in Ash's absence, then that responsibility had been transferred over to Neo, which was an interesting choice, as Neo never spoke, or at least no one had ever heard her utter a sound. He was old, as could be seen from the wrinkles on his face, and the grey in his hair. His hair was combed back so that it draped along the back of his neck, and his silver mustache was well-groomed. Despite wearing the lab coat, he still looked sophisticated and had the smell of arrogance about him.

"And what is your price, my good Doctor?" Ash asked as he probed for answers, grinning all the while as he stepped forward to Lisle's desk. While he looked down at the Doctor, he noticed that he showed no signs of any fear, or any kind of emotion at all, in fact.

"I can't be bought with money, Ash. I fight for the same reasons you do," that was all Lisle wanted to say, and Ash knew that he wouldn't be able to get any more from the Doctor, if that was all he wished to reveal. However, he was satisfied with the answer nonetheless. "What are you doing here, Ash?" Lisle asked, for the first time a hint of emotion showed, but it was one of confusion, which could be seen as he turned in Ash's direction.

"I came to check on my investments, and to personally make sure you didn't have cold feet," Ash replied as he stepped closer and pulled up an arm chair before he sat down. He reached over the Doctor's desk for a bottle of whiskey that was sitting on top of it, but the Doctor pulled it away. Ash tilted his head at him briefly while the Doctor stared back, leaning down with a loud sigh as he pulled out a drawer and picked up two glasses, then set them both down on the table.

"I thought Neo took responsibility from Cinder when it came to operations here." the Doctor said, a question in his eyes as he poured three fingers of whiskey into each of the glasses, and handed one to Ash, who gladly accepted it. "I wasn't given the details, but judging from Cinder's- Ms. Fall's- disposition, I guess she wasn't happy. Either because she had to pick up your slack until Neo came around, or something you did. Maybe both."

"Well, I am here to make sure everything is going according to the plan. However, I won't be relieving Neo as the Master still doesn't trust me with my own men, but he has given me enough agency to check on the seeds that I have already planted," Ash responded before he took a sip of the whiskey, the taste was smooth, and he could tell that the whiskey had been well-aged. Aged just the way he liked it. "Are things going according to plan?"

"Somewhat," the Doctor replied, and again, a hint of emotion tinged his voice. In it was a hint of disappointment, as well as nervousness.

"Come now Doctor, I am not as nearly as smart as you, what with your education and all, so I ask you to please elaborate." Ash asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice and it began to sour the taste of whiskey in his mouth, which further agitated him. "What do you mean 'somewhat?'"

"Has Neo explained to you about my associate's secret project with the Atlesian military?" the Doctor answered, leaning his head down to catch a sniff of the whiskey.

"Yes, about creating artificial Auras," Ash snorted in disgust as he replied, then shook his head as he eyed the Doctor, as it wasn't an answer to his question. "You seem to be avoiding my questions, my good Doctor."

The Doctor held his hand up to stop Ash as he took a sip from his glass. He cleared his throat as the burning sensation subsided, while Ash continued to glare at him as he waited for an answer.

"Well, he detested the idea, and because of him, the Council has denied funding for our project. Said it was "unethical.'" The Doctor responded with a slight grin, feeling a sense of irony at the mention of the word "unethical". Ash's face contorted as he also realized this irony, but also felt a sense of hypocrisy.

"Of course they would. They have all the power, so they think they can declare what is unethical and what isn't," Ash responded under his breath but still loud enough for the Doctor to hear him. The Doctor responded with a nod before sipping the last of the whiskey and slammed the glass down aggressively onto the table. Ash grinned as he felt the aggression and likewise sipped the last of his whiskey. He then set the glass down on the table and nodded at the Doctor as he poured more whiskey into the glass.

"Well, once the Council knows that I am back, I am sure I can make them see it our way. Be patient," Ash said with a slight chuckle as gulped down his second glass of whiskey, arose, and turned to walk out. "They had done well to hide themselves for this long, all going according to plan."

"I have spent years writing proposals, and years more formulating experiments, borrowing from Doctor Maynard's notes to see if I can apply what he achieved to our project. I have _been_ patient," The Doctor replied with a slight growl, but Ash ignored it as he continued to walk towards the door.

"Patience. We have all been planning this for years, my good Doctor," he reached the door, unlocked it, and was about to turn the knob, but then the door opened by itself and a young woman stepped through. She held a parasol over her shoulder and walked in while pushing past Ash. She turned to look at Ash once she noticed him, and looked perplexed as she had never seen him before. Likewise, Ash looked back down onto her with a similar expression as he had never laid eyes upon her before, either.

"I thought you had left, Neo," Lisle asked with a sigh as he realized he now had to deal with two sociopaths when he already enough on his plate while it was just Ash.

"Oh!" The confusion had left Ash's face and was replaced with a sickly grin. "Neo: I've heard some interesting things about you."

She responded with a gentle smile which made Lisle cringe a little when he saw it. He knew all too well to not trust that smile.

"Oh, you would like her, Ash, because you both are _so_ much alike," Lisle interrupted and they both turned to face him. "For example, she killed one of my men because he had accidently gotten in her way," the Doctor said with a groan and rubbed his forehead as he remembered how long it took to clean up the mess she had made, and how the morale of his men spiraled down to the point that he had to increase their wages and add hazard pay, just to silence their complaints. When she heard that comment, she turned to him and simply wagged a finger at him. Her eyes changed from green to pink and brown as she gave a slight wink.

"Hmmm. Sounds like my kind of gal," Ash replied with a slight chuckle and looked as if he was actually thinking of something nefarious, which was evident when his eyes widened as along with his grin. A soft smile also adorned her face as she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before the pair disappeared from view in a flash of light.

( **Moments later** )

A group of White Fang soldiers stared as a young girl and a man wearing burnt clothes walked past them. They wondered how two humans managed to get in, which made them feel slightly angry. The girl noticed their reaction, and looked back at them before giving them a slight wink as she continued forward. The room seemed to go silent as her boots clopped along the floor and left an echo with each step. She spun her parasol as it leaned against her shoulder, and walked with a slight skip in her step. As he reflected on all the stories that he had been told about her, Ash continued to watch her behavior with a broad grin. She was apparently someone who didn't really care about what was going on around her, as it was certain that if things were to go wrong, she would be able to handle it quickly. And painfully.

"Doesn't matter, the two attacks are only a minor setback," Ash and Neo heard as they approached, and two bodyguards moved up and readied their weapons when they noticed the two humans. A man wearing all black and who had red hair turned around to see what had caused such a reaction from his men. He noticed the ominous feeling and silence in the room, only to see Neo and Ash, the latter of whom he did not recognize. This made him slightly wary as he stepped forward and pushed the two bodyguards out of the way. He moved his hands up to their weapons and pushed their barrels down.

"May I help you?" Adam asked as he had expected only Neo's arrival; upon seeing Ash, he decided to be a bit more cautious, but at the time was ready as he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"We are friends, boy. I am just an old comrade who has come back from a lengthy vacation, and this is…" Ash smiled and bowed in front of Adam while Neo shrugged at Ash's comment,which was true and yet not true at the same time. Despite having a Grimm mask on, you could still see Adam's eyes widen as his mask lifted slightly as his brow rose when he heard Ash speak.

"I see," Adam responded while still keeping a hand on the hilt of his sword. He had seen who these "friends" were, and he was still wary. The burnt clothing and the smell of smoke that came from Ash's shirt was overwhelming, but it was also what hinted to Adam that he could be dangerous. He then noticed how Ash seemed to trail off in mid-sentence, and was now scanning the area around him; he noticed how many soldiers there were: hundreds if not thousands of Faunus, all armed, equipped, and ready to attack.

"You seem ready for a war," Ash pointed out, noticing their supply of weapons as well as Dust. Large metal shipping containers carrying military vehicles were being lifted by small cranes onto flatbed rail cars.

"The Faunus War never ended. We are simply finishing what you humans started," Adam exclaimed and tightened the grip on his sword. Neo smiled as she noticed this reaction from the corner of her eye and stepped closer before leaning in against Adam. She eyed him a little before backing away, and she turned to Ash to give him a nod.

"Oh, that's good. However, it's still not time just yet," Ash responded and took a second glance at the White Fang forces behind him. He marveled at the size of the force they could field, and grinned at the thought of war. A real war.

"Indeed," Ash continued and turned his back towards Adam as he continued to survey the well-armed soldiers around him. "Timing is everything, you will have a bigger impact if you attack when the enemy feels most safe."

Adam nodded in agreement, knowing full well the date and time to fully reignite the Faunus War, but he knew that they hadn't come to discuss strategy, otherwise Cinder or the man that she was seen accompanying would have come by instead. For a moment, Neo looked on as Adam scanned the both of them, and she noticed that Adam had begun to show signs of annoyance as he waited to hear the reasons why they had come. She slowly pulled out a Scroll and opened a file before handing it to him.

"This is the footage of what happened in Mistral?" he asked as he played the video footage, gunshots were heard, as well as swords whistling as they cut through the air. She didn't care to respond, as she thought the question was practically rhetorical. Her superiors had requested that she look into it, and said that the footage would speak for itself. Adam skipped through the playback and fast forwarded to the point where Leo was captured. He narrowed his eyes when someone on the video told the soldiers to keep Leo sedated so that he couldn't jump between dimensions. Then all of a sudden Adam's demeanor changed as he stood straighter and took a deep breath.

"I know these two." He said as he pointed at an image of two people on the screen before handing it back to Neo and Ash, with the image frozen to show them who he was referring to.

* * *

Haiiden was deep in thought as he sat in front of a chess table. He looked at each individual piece and realized that he had Ozpin cornered, except for a part of the board that the Headmaster had defended and left open. Haiiden had been doing well so far, but wasn't playing in top form, and hoped that Ozpin wouldn't notice the opening. If Ozpin did, then he could use it as an escape and prolong the game, or even end it in his favor. Across from Haiiden, Ozpin sat with his hands folded in front of him and scanned the board. His eyes just skimming over the opening that Haiiden had made. Then Haiiden grinned to himself at the thought of beating Ozpin, but placed his hands in front of his mouth to hide it. Glynda was watching the game silently with her hands folded front of her, but she was more attentive than Haiiden.

"Sir, may I make a suggestion?" she whispered into Ozpin's ear as she leaned in with a slight smile on her face as she eyed Haiiden. Ozpin was already about to give up, but when he heard Glynda's offer, he shrugged and leaned back to give her room. She stepped around Ozpin's seat and towards the table to get closer to it, putting her hand to her chin as she scanned the board again as if she was looking for something. Haiiden swallowed nervously as he hoped that she hadn't noticed the opening. She placed her hand over a bishop and moved it between two of Haiiden's pawns, placing his king in check. Haiiden stared as he realized that this was a portent of the game's finishing move. He had no pieces to cover the king and if he moved what he had in position, he would give Ozpin the opportunity to move another piece into a position that would cause a cascade of moves that would end the game in Ozpin's favor.

"You will checkmate my king in seven moves." Haiiden sighed as he toppled his own king and accepted defeat.

"That was rather close." Ozpin commented, smiling up at Glynda as she backed away from the table.

"Yeah but that was unfair, because you had help," Haiiden responded with a slight, lopsided smile. Glynda shook her head at him but held her smile. Ozpin was the first to let out a chuckle before the other two joined in. The laugh lasted a few seconds before it died down to mere sighs.

"Something has been bothering you, hasn't it?" Ozpin remarked, sitting straight in his chair as he looked down on Haiiden, who nodded his head in reply. It was true, some thoughts had kept him from giving his full attention to the game. He still couldn't help but think about what happened during his mission in Mistral, as well as the week after their return. Ironwood had sent his congratulations for a job well done, and a mission flawlessly executed, but Haiiden wasn't having any of that. He had done his mission, and when it was no longer his business, Ironwood still had the nerve to contact him.

"Just a lot of things, sir. Especially a lot of information I had to take in," Haiiden responded as he looked back up at Ozpin.

"Regarding your friend Zed?" Ozpin asked, although he knew it was one of the things that was bothering him, he still felt the need to clarify.

"Exactly. I can't believe he would lie to me, and I feel like I should be mad, but I know I can't be," Haiiden sighed as he thought back on his conversation with Zed after they had returned. He did try to back out of it by saying that he would explain another time, but Haiiden pressed on it further to the point where Zed couldn't wriggle his way out of it any longer.

The revelation that Zed had a past with the White Fang, and had even been one of its topmost Lieutenants, had come as a shock, but ultimately Haiiden understood Zed's reasons for lying, and had forgiven his friend in a cathartic moment that came as a relief to both of them, as they hopefully had no further secrets between them.

"His heart was in the right place; he was only thinking of you," Ozpin responded in an attempt ensure him that Zed didn't mean to deceive him. Haiiden smiled at the thought, ever since they had met, Zed had always clung to him. In a sense, he always knew that Zed wouldn't lie to him purely out of malice. However, this wasn't the only thing bothering him, and was the least of his worries.

"Sir. May I ask a favor?" Haiiden asked suddenly and Ozpin looked at him with curiosity, but only after hearing the word "favor". "I want some time off."

"In the middle of the school year?" Ozpin sighed upon hearing the request, while Glynda's jaw tightened, confused, as well as feeling genuinely curious as to what Haiiden was asking. "I am not sure I can make that happen."

"You volunteered my team to help the man I hate most in the world," Haiiden replied and didn't notice that he had responded with a growl. "Although I did look at it as helping Mistral, the fact he would call to offer congratulations and give his thanks has put me in a rather grim mood, if you'll pardon the pun."

Glynda looked back down at Ozpin, who had now replaced his confused look with a more pensive one.

"You made me deal with a man I despise above all others. All I ask is for a couple of days," Haiiden said, and seemed to be begging, judging from his tone of voice. Ozpin sighed, but didn't answer as he continued to look Haiiden in the eye, as he tried to determine that this was truly what he wanted. However, he also didn't answer, because he was left speechless and didn't know how to respond. "Think of this as a way to repay me for the mission. I don't care about extra credit for my schoolwork, heck, I will take another mission once the time comes."

There was another long pause as he considered the offer. Headmaster Ozpin took a deep breath, then held it for a long moment before expelling an exaggerated sigh. "Alright. I will tell the other instructors," Ozpin finally replied as he pulled out a sheet of parchment from his desk drawer, and began to write onto it. Haiiden felt overjoyed and couldn't help but quickly jump out of his seat. Internally, he felt grateful that Ozpin would allow him to go, and turned to leave immediately. However, Ozpin didn't realize that he had meant to leave now, but since he had already agreed to let him go then he guessed he wouldn't be able to negotiate the offer any further.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Glynda asked as Haiiden exited the room, a hint of concern in her voice. Ozpin stopped scribbling on the parchment for a moment as he thought about the question. He had received a call from Lipesce about what happened on their way back to base after the mission. How Haiiden had stopped to bury a disappeared man with no name. After piecing together this information, Haiiden's request to leave, as well as his actions, he realized why he wanted some time off in the first place. The realization made his heart sink.

"Remember what I said about being haunted by demons?" Ozpin replied, but didn't look back up at her as he resumed his scribbling. "He has yet to deal with his."

The moment was then interrupted as Ozpin's scroll went off as he received a call. He pulled it out of his desk and looked down at it, only to see that the number was blocked. Replaced by the word "PRIVATE" for the name, and "RESTRICTED" for the number.

"Speaking of being haunted by demons," Ozpin said with a sigh, feeling drained after a long day and having to deal with the Council following the mission, now Haiiden. He stood up and handed Glynda the note he had written for the other Professors. "Please let the instructors take a look at this, let them know of the situation."

* * *

The rest of HAVC was walking down the corridors after sharing a meal together with JNPR. Zed was back to his old self again and was excited to tell everyone of his mission, jumping in his seat and on the table while accidently knocking over their meals. Using excessive body language and hand gestures as he explained what happened in the assault. JNPR couldn't help but laugh at Zed's enthusiasm and were glad that he was back to his normal self. As they listened to the story, they were clearly impressed that they would be called upon for this initiative, and that they had returned successfully and safely, all of them. As HAVC made their way down the hall, their laughs were silenced when they noticed Haiiden walking out of their dorm, his duffle bag in hand, as he went to lock the door before turning to see his team.

"Oi, mate!" Haiiden turned as he heard Zed call out to him, but was surprised how fast Zed was running at him. He stepped back to avoid Zed crashing into him but was relieved when he just slid to a stop. Haiiden looked past Zed to see the twins also running to meet with him and noticed a hint of fear in each one, especially Cecilia, who was breathing heavily after she had run to meet him, but also to hold back her emotions. "Where are you going?" Zed asked.

"You aren't leaving again, are you?" Vaughn jumped in as he narrowed his eyes at Haiiden. He normally didn't show anger, but from the looks of it, it seemed as though Haiiden was abandoning them again. The thought frustrated Vaughn further as he had recently explained why Cecilia was mad at him the first time he had left Beacon. After hearing the question, Haiiden staggered back against the wall of the hallway, and was genuinely stunned that this was the impression he was giving off.

"No! No, I just- I have some things to deal with is all," Haiiden said with a smile as he tried to reassure them that he wasn't going to leave them again. The smile on his face wavered as he looked to the twins, and it was apparent that they didn't believe him. Despite always appearing to be strong, with her head held high Cecilia instead lowered it in defeat. It was the same look she had when Vaughn was telling Haiiden about their upbringing.

"Are you sure, sir? You haven't seemed well ever since we came back. As if something has been bothering you," Vaughn continued, this time his face having the same look of defeat as his sister's. Haiiden then remembered that Ozpin also noticed how he had been acting ever since they returned. If he noticed, then they surely did. Zed stepped forward and stopped at Haiiden's side, placing a hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.

"I made a promise that I wouldn't leave again," Haiiden's reply made Cecilia's head shoot up, her look of defeat was instead replaced with a look of surprise and seemed to be filled with hope. "We are a team now, and we will be for the next four years, if not longer. I swear upon my mother's grave and my father's memory." He reached in between the folds of the armor on his gauntlet and pulled out an old photograph and offered it to Cecilia. "This is the only photograph of my mother that I keep with me. I would never abandon it, just as I would never abandon the three of you. You may keep it safe for me until I return."

Cecilia's eyes shot open as she heard Haiiden's promise, and the invocation of the memories of his parents. She remembered how her adopted father made her a similar promise before, when he first took her and Vaughn in. She took the photograph with great care and looked up into Haiiden's eyes with a smile on her face, then nodded. Haiiden looked back and smiled in response to Cecilia's reassurance, before turning to walk away. Zed and Vaughn both stepped to Cecilia, to see if she was truly alright, and that was when Vaughn knew everything was fine. He saw that Cecilia held the same happy smile that she wore when Colonel Sceryei first adopted them. She looked at the photograph for a long moment before heading for the team's dorm.

"I am fine, I promise," she said with as much sincerity that she could muster as she placed the photograph in an ornate wooden box her father had kept his keepsakes in, then turned to face Vaughn and Zed, still in the doorway. Her face was plastered with a sincere smile, which then infected Vaughn as he and Zed looked at each other before they moved to join her in the dorm. Just as Zed was about to enter the room, his head snapped to his right as he noticed a flash of black down the corridor.

"I'll be right back." He said as he ran toward whatever it was he had spotted. Inside the room, the twins looked back to each other and shrugged, thinking that it was another girl that he wanted to try and flirt with. Zed raced down the corridor with his fists tightened and was breathing heavily out of anger. He noticed that the corridor was strangely empty, especially during this time of the day, when students should be heading back to their dorms. His eyes turned orange and his nostrils flared as he continued to run. He then spotted the same black flash turn the corner, and he began to run faster. Just as he then turned the corner, something grabbed him and pinned him to the wall. His mind was spinning and his back ached after being thrown against it with such force. Then he felt something against his throat and looked down to notice his target had braced her arm against it, forcing him against the wall and leaving him gasping for air.

"Did Adam send you?" he heard the familiar voice demand, but Zed couldn't help but notice the ominous glow of her yellow eyes and the barrel of her pistol pressed against his head.

"Woah, calm down!" Zed responded.

"Did Adam send you?" Blake repeated as she pressed the barrel of her pistol a little harder against his skull proximate to his frontal lobe, and pulled back the hammer, cocking the pistol.

"Why would Adam send me, Blake? How do I know he didn't send _you_ to kill _me_?" Zed asked, his eyebrow raised as he thought of the idea. However, she gave an equally perplexed look in return, which only added to Zed's confusion.

"Tell me, Zed or I swear, with the pull of this trigger; I will kill you right here and now," she swallowed as she made the threat, shifting in position and squeezed the trigger a little more. Zed calmed down a little as he noticed her hesitation and his expression was replaced with one of frustration.

"And with the flick of my wrist, I can gut you right here," he replied. At first, Blake was confused at his seemingly empty threat. Only when she felt a sharp pressure in her stomach did she look down to see that Zed had pressed his karambit against her belly. Her eyes widened when she realized that he had his weapon out as well, and winced in pain as he continued to apply pressure on the knife which began to cause her discomfort through her shirt.

" _Why are you here_ _?_ " She thought and began to grit her teeth at him. However, to her surprise, he pulled the knife away and raised both hands in the air. They had both been locked in a draw, whoever attacked first would win, and to see him back down left her stunned.

"I am not going to hurt you, Blake," he told her calmly as he slowly sheathed the knife behind him and raised his hands again. Blake swallowed nervously, letting off the pressure against the trigger of her pistol as she thought to herself. "I could have gutted you here and you would also have shot me. I would like to avoid that, if possible; I've grown rather fond of my life, mate."

"How can I trust you?" she replied suddenly as she reapplied the pressure onto the trigger. Zed was silent for a moment, choosing what to say next very carefully, as the wrong answer could get him killed.

"I don't expect you to trust me immediately, but let's talk about this; hear me out," he said as he stared down at her while still keeping his hands up. The fact that he had put his knife away should have been enough to show he wasn't a threat, or at least so he thought. "There is a nice tea shop in Little Menagerie. My treat."

She was surprised to see a smile appear on his face, despite the fact that she held a gun to his head. As she scanned his features, she realized that his smile was genuine, as she was able to distinguish whether or not it was real, especially given how well she knew him.

"Remember, you have the gun, so you're in control," he assured her and this was enough to make herself un-cock the pistol, then lower it. She looked away for a moment as she thought to herself. She cursed herself that she would allow this, but it was far better than killing him and having the school expel her, and the authorities come after her. He lowered his arms slowly and Blake stepped away while she holstered her weapon in one smooth motion. Zed sighed in relief and looked up with a smile before he waved for her to follow.

* * *

As they made their way outside of Beacon Academy, Zed's smile had disappeared as he thought how to explain himself to Blake. Then the thought of why she was here came to mind. Was she scouting for recruits? Was she actually sent there to kill him? If the latter was the case, then he'd probably be dead already, but the question of why she was here still lingered in his mind. He led to her to a nice outdoor café in Vale's Little Menagerie, a Faunus district in southern part of the city, and he pulled out a chair for her to sit upon. As she sat down, she shook her head and pulled herself in towards the table. She sighed quietly to herself, still wondering if it was a good idea to do this. Somehow, it made her feel that she was no longer in control, but that he was, and she was concerned that she was falling into a trap.

"So, let's talk," she said coldly, but was interrupted he stuck a finger in the air, signaling for her to wait. A young waitress, a koala-Faunus, a type usually only found in Vacuo or Menagerie, approached to take their order, and Zed ordered a black tea with a finger of Cognac, pulling out his fake Ident Card. Blake politely waved to the waitress, telling her that she was fine, and the waitress bowed before she left them to be alone. After a few minutes of silence, she returned with Zed's order and he took it slowly. Feeling the warmth in his hands and lifted it into his nose, smelling the tea and Cognac.

"How are you, Blake?" he asked softly; the question was genuine as he looked up to make eye contact with her. This took Blake by surprise, and she stammered as she tried to come up with a response.

"I- I am well, I guess," she replied, and Zed nodded as he acknowledged the answer. Zed realized it was a dumb question, since he also felt a bit awkward in asking it. "What are you doing here?" Blake asked.

"What do you mean?" Zed responded as he took a sip of his tea, tasting tartness from the tea, then a wave of sweetness passing over his tongue as the aftertaste kicked in, a result of the Cognac.

"I mean, what are you doing at Beacon?" she asked again, and Zed looked up at her, expecting to see whether she had a disamused expression on her face, but when he looked up, he saw genuine curiosity in her eyes.

"Why else would I be at Beacon? I am being trained to become a Huntsman," he responded and took another sip of his tea. Once he'd answered, he noticed a look of annoyance that had come across her face. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Okay, then-?" She continued.

"I have been attending for a couple of years now," he interrupted, answering her question before she got the chance to ask. The sudden response made her freeze mid-sentence, and the look of annoyance was replaced with one of confusion.

"A couple of years?" she asked in disbelief, looking down for a moment, as she didn't know how to process this information. "But I thought you were still with the White Fang. With Adam."

Zed sputtered as he tried to contain himself but then couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sheer irony of her questions. Also, the effect of the alcohol kicked in, sending a mild warmth through his body, all the way down to his toes. Blake was left puzzled, as well as uncomfortable, at his sudden laughter.

"You do realize I'd be justified in asking you those very same questions?" Zed asked her as he began to calm down, letting out a little giggle every now and then as the whole situation was still funny to him. She sat frozen for a bit, but with a passive look, so as not to show any emotion that would hint Zed as to what she was thinking.

"Ok. Let's start with you telling me how you got here, then," she replied.

"Nope," Zed quickly responded and set the cup back down on its saucer then leaned on the table. His arms crossed on the table as he stared at Blake curiously. "I already answered your questions. So it's my turn to ask: Why did you leave the White Fang?"

Blake sighed and looked down at her hands as she quietly thought to herself. She remembered the last mission she had with Adam, and how he was willing to blow up a train filled with innocent workers. How he had changed from someone who rallied the White Fang when they were desperate and in trouble, to someone who murdered without hesitation or remorse.

"Adam was not the person I thought he was, and as he changed, the White Fang changed as well. Too much," she replied quietly.

"I warned you," Zed responded coldly, and with a bit of harshness in his voice. This forced her to look up from her lap with a shocked expression. For a moment, she wondered what he was talking about, then remembered what he had told her years ago.

"I told you what was happening, what kind of missions Adam was putting us on, but you let your damn infatuation get in the way! This could have been avoided if you had spoken to him!" Zed lashed out and began to breathe deeply, not in anger, but rather to keep himself contained as he was on the verge of tears as he remembered his friend, Adam. Or rather, someone he thought had been his friend, someone he thought he knew. Blake noticed his distress and placed a hand on his, but after a long moment he pulled away. She realized as she placed her hand back in her lap that they had both lost someone dear to them, as well as all sense of identity when they left the White Fang; everything that they had been died when they abandoned the movement.

"I'm sorry. I knew you two were close, and it probably hit you hard as well," Zed said with a slight groan and couldn't help but pick up the cup to gulp down the rest of his tea. The Cognac slid down his throat, and he winced in discomfort as it burned slightly. However, the burning was replaced by a searing feeling in his heart as he remembered the one man who had come along and ruined everything.

"It's not just Adam that upsets me, but also how the White Fang has changed. I've begun to suspect that these Dust robberies all around the city led by a man named Roman Torchwick, may be tied to the White Fang," Blake continued. The mention of Roman made Zed look up at her, his eyes widened as they turned orange at the name. He didn't even need to say a word as Blake knew very well that Zed was furious when his eyes were flaming orange as they were now.

"How do you know they are working with Torchwick?" He asked immediately, almost yelling as he asked, which made some bystanders stop and turn their heads.

"Zed," Blake answered with a hush as she noticed that people began to look at them. She leaned forward over the table to try and calm him. "Don't get yourself worked up."

"Where is he?" Zed yelled out as he stood up from his chair, and this time his fox ears popped out. The commotion scared some people away and even the waitress was hiding behind the platter she used to carry the customers' orders. He noticed from the corner of his eye that the waitress was scared, and his eyes turned back to green as he scanned his surroundings. He had attracted too much attention, and swallowed nervously as he looked around.

"Sorry," He said with a nervous smile and a chuckle as he waved to everyone nearby that had stopped to watch the spectacle. Nobody moved for a few moments, then one by one they began to go back about their business. Some looked back to quickly get a second glance at Zed before returning to their food and drinks, or continuing down the sidewalk. He slowly sat back down and reached for his cup, only to discover that it was empty. He motioned for the waitress, and she hesitantly took it before she walked away while looking back at him nervously.

"Zed, do you know Roman?" she asked, a hint of concern in her voice, but she kept it hushed so as not to set him off again.

"He ruined everything!" Zed responded in a hoarse whisper, as he tried to keep from yelling again, and hid his face in his hands. It was not an answer to her question, however, and Blake continued to look at him with a concerned expression. Still, what he had said began to worry her.

"Zed. How do you know Roman?" She asked again, leaning in to the table and her eyes narrowed at him. She felt like she needed to know the answer but seeing his reaction made her realize that perhaps she didn't _want_ to know.

"He was there practically since the beginning of Adam's reign," Zed answered quietly as he pulled his hands away from his face. Tears streaming down his cheeks as he began to recall what happened nearly five years ago. Blake was still confused as to what he meant, but sat frozen in her seat as she waited for Zed to continue.

"After that year, after the White Fang's leadership changed, and they abandoned peaceful protests in favor of arson and attacks, we had a bit of trouble, remember?" Zed continued and Blake sat and nodded in response to let him know that she understood and that he could continue. "We were not well-armed. Heck, most of us were not even bloody fighters, just a lot of stupid gits who were tired of the racism. The first year after Adam took over, everything seemed hopeless, and it seemed inevitable that the White Fang would finally break apart."

"Yeah, I remember. Adam wanted to keep everyone's spirits up by reminding them as to what we were fighting for. Although, he admitted that even he had thought that his new strategy was going to break the movement at times," Blake said with a soft smile, but then remembered that the White Fang strayed far from what they had originally been fighting for.

"It wasn't just Adam's speeches that helped," Zed said, momentarily interrupting Blake's thoughts, and his comment caught her off guard, and she was curious as to what he meant. He gritted his teeth as the thought about Roman invaded his mind and he looked up at her, his eyes orange again. "Roman helped."

Blake's eyes widened when she heard this. She didn't believe Zed at first when he told her that Roman was there nearly from the start of the violence. If it was true, then Adam would have surely told her. Add to that the thought of Adam working with a human, a being he despised on principle, and it just made no sense.

" _He would have told me. Wouldn't he_?" She looked away as she thought, her eyes darting from side to side as she tried to rationalize his motives for keeping her in the dark.

"We were desperate. Torchwick came to us and offered to help. At first, Adam declined the offer, since Roman was a human and Adam believed that he was going to trick us. But then with the snap of his fingers, Roman's lackeys brought in several crates filled with weapons: military grade hardware, all of it. Rifles, grenades, Claymore directional mines, explosives and detonators, ammunition, body armor, and even a flying drone with an onboard rocket launcher, and a remote terminal to control it! We were surprised at first, some of us hesitant to even touch them for fear that they might be rigged to explode somehow. Then one by one, the soldiers took the weapons and that- that was when Roman had bought the White Fang. Lock, stock, and barrel, no pun intended," Zed continued, and his eyes flashing from green to orange as he began to feel a range of different emotions. Even he tried to figure out what he was feeling, but the confusion only upset him further. Blake held her breath at this revelation; she had remembered how they had received new weapons, and how more of their soldiers were now outfitted, but Adam had told her that they raided a military transport. She did chastise him for doing that, since they couldn't afford to incur the wrath of military intervention, but at least things weren't looking so bleak anymore. However, she never realized that it was because of a crook that they got those weapons. "I swear, it was if Roman planned everything. He came in at the right time and took control. Then he began to whisper in Adam's ear, telling him that the White Fang could be so much more: that they could be a force to be reckoned with, and at the right time, they could reignite the Faunus War, and win this time."

"Zed, why didn't you tell me?" Blake asked, feeling slightly nervous now as she felt, and something inside her didn't want to accept this revelation. She began to hope that Zed really was lying, that he really was an assassin sent by Adam, and that he was just toying with her. It would have been easier that way, and then she would be dead; the nightmare she was living would be over.

"Adam was my friend," Zed responded, finally having calmed down as he too finally accepted the reality of the situation. "He asked me not to tell you, but I did try to hint at his intentions. That's when I tried to ask you to talk to him."

Blake remembered how Zed had asked her to talk to Adam, believing that she was closer to him than he was. At first, she didn't really pay attention, but it did concern her at the time and she remembered how she had finally tried to talk to him. However, whenever she brought up the topic, Adam would change the subject about how he envisioned the Faunus and how they would no longer be pushed around. Whenever she heard these little speeches, she was always reminded why she cared for him, almost even loved him but then he showed a different side of himself, a darker side. She knew she had to run after that, but the thought of leaving him behind, and with it her life in the White Fang, had always haunted her.

"Why didn't _you_ talk to Adam?" Blake asked. Zed shook his head and frowned in response.

"I did. He became angry at me and asked me not to raise the matter again. Why do you think he started to invite you on missions rather than me? You, who he'd tried so hard to protect," Zed replied, opening his palms in front of him as if he was weighing the choices in each hand. As his palm was uplifted, the waitress deposited a fresh cup of tea in it. He smiled and thanked her as she walked quickly away. He raised the cup as a metaphor, then his empty palm. "On one hand," he said, flexing the hand that was empty, "had we refused Roman's help, we would have lost the movement entirely, and nothing would have changed." Then he raised the cup of tea in his palm, as if in a toast. "On the other hand, we accepted it and the movement would be able to continue to fight, but the "real" White Fang would die." He took a sip. "I could have stopped this, and I tried, but failed. I failed the White Fang, just as Adam failed the two of us." He paused for a long beat. "Do you know what he said to me, when I tried to talk him out of the path he was taking? He said that I lacked vision, that I had lost sight of our goals and didn't have the backbone to achieve what Faunus-kind was truly capable of. It broke my heart. He might as well have stabbed me in the chest and twisted the knife. Well, it was all downhill from there. Bloody hell. So in the end, I left."

Blake sat silently as she heard this, feeling ashamed, since she felt that she hadn't done enough to try and stop Adam, but the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that nothing would have dissuaded him.. Then she grew angry at the fact that a single human had managed to poison what Zed, Blake, Leo, Adam, and so many others had struggled to build. How everyone in the White Fang, young and old, were all filled with determination for the future. How everyone was eager to fight for their rights, but now they were no better than common killers.

"We all failed," Blake concluded.

* * *

After a few more minutes, Zed left a huge tip for the waitress and apologized profusely for the way he had scared her. Blake watched from behind at how he was acting, even though the waitress had said it was okay, she began to feel nervous as he kept saying that he was sorry. She thought it was amusing and shook her head after a while, smiling upon seeing that even though he was no longer with the White Fang, Zed still cared for the Faunus and their welfare. On their way back, they exchanged stories of their missions. How Team RWBY's leader, Ruby Rose, had stopped a Dust shop robbery led by Torchwick a few days before the semester began, and had thereby earned a place at Beacon. Meanwhile, Zed told her about how his team managed to take out the White Fang terror cell in Mistral, explaining that he took the mission to find Torchwick, and although it was too late to fix the White Fang. He could at least take Roman out to redeem himself, and that stopping the White Fang was just the icing on the cake. Blake laughed when he told her about how Leo had cowered and pleaded once he had been cornered.

"Oh, so you're actively fight against the White Fang now?" she joked.

"Look who's talking!" Zed retorted with a grin.

"And you said you care about the Faunus." she replied to him.

"Says the girl who hides her cat ears behind a bow," he replied with a smirk, and looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. She smiled a little, but then it disappeared and turned into a frown as quickly it had appeared. He knew why she was frowning; it was the same reason and realization that had haunted him the past few years, the feeling of being lied to and wasting your life on a cause that was no longer your own, for believing in a movement that had abandoned you long before you had abandoned it. After they had made their way back to Beacon, they moving with ease through the dimly lit corridors and past the dorms where everyone was fast asleep, they reached the stairs that Zed had to ascend to get to his dorm, when they both stopped and looked at each other. Zed felt that he had reunited with an old friend, but knew that it wasn't meant to last. There were people who knew who they were, and it could spell big trouble if people saw them together.

"This is where we have to part ways, Anders Ignis," Blake said before Zed could speak. He almost sighed in relief as he realized that Blake had the same thought that he had.

"Yeah. We can't see each other anymore. We can't risk anyone suspecting that we were members of the White Fang." Zed replied in a whisper, and looked from side to side to see if anyone was eavesdropping. She nodded and was about to turn to walk away before Zed stopped her.

"Take care of yourself, Blake," he said with a smile. She looked back and was shocked by the grin on his face. For some reason, it warmed her a little bit, but it did not alleviate what she was already feeling: anger at Roman Torchwick, which she couldn't forgive, and despair at Adam's betrayal. "I was Adam's friend too, mate."

She looked at him with a puzzled expression as she wondered where he was going with this. Yes, she knew that Zed was Adam's friend, but why bring it up now?

"That can work for me or against me, as it can for you: you were special to Adam," Zed continued, the smile on his face faded as he became serious. For a moment, Blake turned and scratched the back of her head, almost blushing when she heard that she was special to Adam. "In the end, it can be your advantage, or your liability."

Blake then realized that he meant it as a warning, the red in her cheeks disappeared as she realized the truth in his words. She took a deep breath before she nodded in acknowledgement, but felt that Zed wasn't done, as he was still just standing there rather than heading for his dorm. He took a deep breath, then sighed. "It was good to see you again, Blake Belladonna. Really."

"Even though I put a gun to your head?" Blake joked and crossed her arms in front of her.

" _Especially_ since you put a bloody gun to my head! That was effing brilliant!" Zed replied with a scoff. This response caught her off guard and she looked at him with a quirked brow. "Because in the end, you put down the gun. If it were anyone else in the White Fang, I know they would have pulled the trigger."

Blake nodded as she acknowledged what he meant, and found this sentiment to be amusing. Zed smiled in response and turned to walk up the stairs to his dorm, both of them thinking that it was good to see a friendly face where otherwise there would have been potential enemies all around them. Their palaver had been tinged with regret, however, because in a way, this reunion was also a farewell.


	17. Vol 1: Chapter 17

( **The morning after Chapter 16** )

As the Bullhead VTOL came in for a landing, Haiiden then began to look around at the area. This far out of the central city of the Kingdom of Vale, there were no longer any paved roads in good repair; instead, the roads were marked by two lines of dirt as the many caravans and transports had worn down the grass underneath their tires, leaving a long pair of bald patches that stretched around a corner and out of sight behind the tree line. The traffic had left a clean dirt road with a narrow strip of grass down the middle that would connect to the other Kingdoms, as well as the settlements that were built by people who wanted to escape from the noise and sprawl of the cities. Most of the younger Grimm that would stumble into these settlements, would only be cut down by the Huntsmen and Huntresses who guarded them. The more mature Grimm knew to avoid these settlements, as venturing inside would mean their death. Still, sometimes they would get lucky, as contact with some of the settlements had been known to have been lost in the past.

"It's dangerous out here alone, young sir!" the pilot of the VTOL shouted over the din of the engines. However, Haiiden disregarded the pilot's warning and waved the vehicle off after opening the door and jumping out onto the ground. It was sunny and warm, but it was still very early in the day, which made the grass damp from the morning dew. He took a deep breath, and the crisp, clean air tickled his nose; he was happy to be breathing fresh air again, especially after having been breathing the recycled air inside the VTOL. Turning around, Haiiden then waved for the pilot to leave again, only for the the young woman to shake her head at him before she took off. She was a Faunus; he could tell from the protrusions on the forehead of her helmet that were designed to protect her antlers. After waiting for the roar of the Bullhead's engines to fade into silence, Haiiden then slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and began to follow the road east.

There was no sign of any Grimm, despite the fact that humanity was always at odds with the creatures of Grimm, the road seemed surprisingly quiet. The only sounds that broke this silence were the morning chirps from the birds as they woke up for the day; the rustling of leaves as the morning breeze began to sweep the countryside, and the trees seemed to be alive as their branches swayed back and forth in the wind. The scene became more beautiful when some leaves began to fall as the wind snapped them off of the twigs that they were attached to. Haiiden couldn't help but smile as he walked along the dirt road; the tranquility of the forest gave him peace.

After an hour of following the dirt road, he then stopped in the middle of it to look around, scanning the area to find any familiar landmarks. He was in no hurry, and the chirping of the birds seemed to calm him. He then spotted an opening in the forest to the left side of the road, and saw that the trees parted to make a trail, which was only noticeable to those who knew where to look. He sighed to himself as he stepped off the road and trekked into the forest, following the hidden trail that lead into it.

The crunching of dirt, leaves, and twigs underneath his feet was replaced by soft footsteps as he walked among green grass as the path widened. As he remembered the familiar scent that the trees gave off and the smell of wet grass from the morning dew, the path he took started to look more and more like a walkway, and after some distance, there was a trail of flat stones marking the way. There were no shrubs or trees in the way, as if someone had walked this path many times in the past. No one would dare come this far into the forest alone, especially if they didn't know where they were going; the trees were thick enough to get lost in, and those who did get lost were frequently killed by either the wildlife or the Grimm. But he knew where he was going; he had taken this path many, many times.

Finally, as he approached a clearing, he saw the familiar cottage where he was raised as a child. As he drew closer, he saw that the cottage was in a state of disrepair, and as he fully entered the clearing, he noticed that some Beowolves were climbing along the roof. He gritted his teeth angrily at this sight; his mother had died defending their home against the Grimm, and to see them defile the home that she protected for so long, the home he had grown up in, angered him. He dropped his bag, and as his eyes turned a flaming crimson, he quickly drew his sword. The Beowolves immediately turned their heads as they heard him unsheathe his weapon. The Alpha, the one leading the pack, had jumped down to confront the interloper, while the other Beowolves cowered away as their leader slowly crawled forward, sniffing the air in front of Haiiden. For a moment they made eye contact and as the leader noticed Haiiden's familiar red eyes, it lowered its head and turned to run off with the rest of its pack.

Haiiden glared as they ran away, but once they had disappeared from view, he sighed and turned his attention back to his childhood home. It didn't look so bad once you got a closer look at it: a new paint job and some new shingles on the roof and it would be as good as new. For the first time in a while, he felt another familiar feeling, as something warm began to grow inside him. He quickly ran back to his bag to retrieve it, then trotted to the door. The fire in his soul was being stoked as he ran; he disappeared inside for a few moments, only to come out a few minutes later with some work clothes on: a pair of denim shorts, as well as an old shirt so as not to get any of his regular clothes dirty. He had removed his clawed gauntlet and placed a leather glove over it as he went straight to work.

First, he started at the front of the house. Next to the door were two dirt patches on each side which were supposed to be filled with white rose bushes. However, after years of neglect, weeds had sprouted and choked the bushes nearly to death; there were a few buds, but the bushes weren't flowering at all. He quickly got on his knees and began to pull out the weeds, handful by handful. He struggled to pull out the ones that had really deep roots; after he was done, he got a shovel and began to loosen the dirt around the bushes while clearing out any accessible roots and weeds that hid under the ground. Then went around his home to clear out the weeds that had begun to grow around its edges.

After making a full circle, he then stepped around again, but this time to look for something. As he searched, he finally spotted what he was looking for: a small mound of dirt surrounded by a circle of stones, which was also overrun with weeds. He knelt down to start pulling the weeds, out and when he was done he observed the circle of stones. Moss had grown on top of them, and made the scene look ugly in his eyes. To him it was repulsive, and he began to pick up the stones one by one and threw them back into the forest.

He stomach grumbled; the trek here and the work he had done had caused him to work up an appetite. He turned around and went back into his home, emerging from it with string and a knife in hand. He then leaned down to pick up a piece of a branch and took about twenty minutes to make a makeshift hook to attach to the end of the string. Once he had finished, he smiled to himself, thinking of all the times Oobleck had taken him out when he was being trained to learn how to survive in the wild. How to make snares for animals, and how to make make-shift rods for fishing, and today he especially craved fish. He didn't have time for the rod, and instead had decided to reel in any catch he made with his bare hands.

The stream was nearby, only a few minutes away on foot, and he was delighted to see that it was mating season for the fish. Schools of them were just skimming across the surface of the water with their fins just barely breaching the surface. As he reached the stream, he realized he had forgotten a shovel to dig for worms, deciding instead to use his knife and his bare hands to dig. It wasn't as effective as a spade, which made Haiiden groan in frustration, but after a few grueling minutes he finally found a couple meaty worms to use as bait. He attached one to the hook, using a bit of string to tie it for good measure, after which he flung the hook into the water.

The fish were especially hungry today; after less than five minutes he already had a bite, and he spun the string around his right hand as he reeled in the catch. He was thankful that he'd had the foresight to put on the leather glove, otherwise the line would have easily cut into his fingers and palms thanks to the fight his catch was giving him. As he pulled it in, he began to notice its size and color. He guessed that it was roughly a foot long and the wet silvery-rainbow colored scales glinted as they reflected the sunlight. When he had finally pulled it in withing reach, he picked it up and looked at it as it hung on the hook. His mouth watered as he looked at it, and his stomach grumbled again. Realizing that one would not be enough to sate his appetite, especially since there would be more work to clean it and cook it, he removed the hook from the fish's mouth and attached another worm before casting it out into the stream again.

After he had caught a second fish, one that was roughly the same size, if not bigger, he began to make his way back to his home. As he got up to move, he heard rustling in the bushes nearby and he immediately crouched. He had been so caught up in getting ready to go fishing that he had forgotten to take his sword and gauntlet with him. He cursed himself for his foolishness, and planted his feet on the ground, ready to push himself forward in case he was attacked. He kept his eyes locked in the general direction of the rustling, but then a fox's head popped out from the bush. He let out a sigh of relief, wondering to himself where it had come from, then noticed that it eyed him curiously. As they stood frozen in a tableau, just looking back at one another, Haiiden began to wonder if the fox viewed him as a potential threat. Did he get too close to its den? Then he realized that it wasn't eyeing him but it was eyeing the fish that he had just caught.

"Sorry, these are mine," he said with a grin, but the fox just looked back at him. Only after realizing that he was talking to forest critters did he understand how silly he sounded. He then smiled to himself and thought that it was just stupid, that he wasn't some fairytale princess who talked to woodland creatures. After a good chuckle, he walked back to his home and went into the kitchen to clean his catch. First, he stripped lit a fire in the fire pit in the cottage's front yard, and worked as he waited for the fire to get hot enough. He placed a pan over the fire, then stripped off the scales of both fish, and chopped off the heads before he deboned and filleted the remaining meat and sizzled the fillets in the pan. After the meal was good and ready, he salted it and added some garlic powder to give it some flavor before going outside and climbing onto the roof. Judging from the position of the sun, he guessed that it was around two in the afternoon, which he confirmed by checking his Scroll. He had some time to finish the other work around the cottage, but for now his mind was solely focused on eating. However, it was a good time for silent contemplation.

* * *

( **A few days earlier** )

Just a couple days after coming back from their mission over at Mistral, Zed tried his best to hide his excitement as Pyrrha told HAVC her story. Listening anxiously with a wide grin as she told HAVC how Jaune had finally stood up to Cardin and seemingly saved the day. Although, she leaned in to clarify that it was with the help of her Semblance, which used her control of magnetism to guide Jaune's shield against the giant Ursa's paw just before Jaune cut the beast's head clean off, and that Jaune did not- and would never- know.. Everyone couldn't help but smile as they listened, even Cecilia, who had first doubted Jaune, and was glad that he had been able to prove that she had been wrong about him. She was sincerely relieved that he had proven that he had the heart to be a Huntsman, and to be a good leader for his team.

"Aww, it was nothing," Jaune said with a nervous chuckle as he approached, and began to turn red at the attention as HAVC applauded his valor. A couple bandages over his face marked the beating he had received from Team CRDL before the Ursa attacked and almost killed Cardin, as well as a swollen cheek. "There is a reason why we are here, after all."

"Exactly!" Zed exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat and slid over the table to sit next to Jaune. Putting an arm around his neck and pulling him close while Jaune yelped in pain. The bruises and aches still hadn't healed, and Pyrrha tried to reach out to pull Zed away but recoiled with a grin back when she noticed Jaune's smile. "I always knew you had it in you!"

Haiiden nodded as Zed spoke, at first when he had heard he was an Arc, he always knew that Jaune would do well. Although he knew that doubts began to emerge when he was spending all his free time with Team CRDL, he was glad that they were unfounded after hearing this story. Cecilia also wanted to speak out, to offer her congratulations, but knew that she had been among the many that doubted him and thought he didn't deserve to be here at Beacon. Thinking it would be in bad taste to say so, she instead sat silently. Jaune finally managed to pull away from Zed's hold on him and sat straight up in his seat, while Zed's arm still hung around his neck and rested on his shoulder.

"I do have a confession though," Jaune mentioned silently and Pyrrha looked at him after she heard what he said. "I sort of made up my credentials. I wasn't accepted into Beacon because of skills, but because I lied. I got my hands on some forged transcripts, and well, here I am. Cardin found out, and was blackmailing me; that's why I was spending so much time with Team CRDL; Cardin had me doing his homework, fetching things for him, you name it. Before the Ursa attacked, he asked me to do something that would have hurt Pyrrha; that's where I drew the line, and I stood up to him. They beat me, and that's when the Ursa attacked. If I hadn't been there, Cardin would be dead now. I don't think he'll be giving me any more trouble from here on out."

For a moment, a silence fell onto the table and HAVC looked back to each other with shocked expressions. Finally, everyone replied with a nod as they understood why he did what he did, especially since he wanted to be like his father, his grandfather, and especially his great-grandfather, who had wielded the sword he now carried during the Great War; he came from a long and distinguished line of warriors. Something seemed to hang over Haiiden however, as if something pulled at the fibers of the tapestry of his life.

"Doesn't matter now," Cecilia pointed out and leaned on the table as she looked Jaune in the eyes. A grin adorned her face, which made Jaune feel slightly uncomfortable since he had never seen her smile before. "You've already proven that you have as much right to be here as anyone else."

She then went back to her morning meal, smiling the entire time that she ate. Zed still couldn't pull away from Jaune, as he was still too proud to let him go. However, the smile on Haiiden's face had already faded as the feeling inside him grew. A feeling he could only describe as guilt and shame.

"Well. Since we are being honest," Haiiden finally began, which caught everyone at the table off guard. Nora looked up with a pancake sticking out of her mouth while Jaune was still smiling, of course he was being honest. However, he didn't know about Haiiden either, and Haiiden thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to confess as well. Cecilia sighed to herself and didn't look up from her plate as she already knew what he was going to say. "Remember when Cecilia and I had a rather rough beginning of the semester together?"

"Yeah?" Nora replied and she turned next to Ren.

"She said that it was because she was jealous of you being the team leader," Ren finished and his gaze shifted between Cecilia and Haiiden. While Jaune and Pyrrha leaned in on the table, curious since they weren't there when Haiiden tried to confess what he had done.

"Well. That wasn't the case; she was angry because I dropped out of Beacon last year, and forced the entire team to retake their first year over again," Haiiden continued and braced himself for how they would react. Nora stared at him, as if she didn't know what this entailed, while Ren sat quietly as he processed the information. Zed turned and finally pulled away as Haiiden confessed to everyone at the table. Jaune turned his head to Zed for confirmation, then back to Haiiden with a look of disbelief. Pyrrha, however, was different, as she was displeased with this revelation, crossing her arms as she stared at Haiiden.

"I see," she said after a few moments of silence and looked down for a beat as she processed this information. "I thought you had a bit more integrity than that, Haiiden."

"Uh, yeah, I did everything in my power to make it up to my team, but Cecilia couldn't find it in her heart to forgive me. Not until after the duel, at any rate," Haiiden said, and he shivered as he suddenly remembered Pyrrha's admonishment was the same thing that Professor Port had told him. He finally looked down as he tried to hide his shame from his friends. However, when she noticed this, Pyrrha then set her hands on the table and sighed to herself, knowing that he was trying his best to keep his teammates happy by actually apologizing for leaving and stood with his head high as he took Cecilia's hits.

"At least you came back," Pyrrha concluded.

"Yep," Haiiden responded.

"Why did you leave?" Ren asked and everyone at this point was curious as to the answer. Everyone now knew why Jaune had fabricated his credentials, but now it was Haiiden's turn to reveal his motives for abandoning his education at Beacon.

* * *

( **Present Day** )

Haiiden realized at that moment that he hadn't thought about why he left in any great detail. Realizing that in actuality, it didn't really make much sense outside of his own reasoning. He had always told himself that it was because he wanted to just skip the training and the school to just fight, that Beacon had nothing left to teach him that he didn't already know. Then the sudden realization came to mind, like being hit by a train, as he thought about the people that he had hurt with his actions. His teammates, even the people who had trained him in his life: Port, Oobleck, Goodwitch, and Ozpin. He then turned around and looked down from the roof at the mound that lay behind his home. The longer he looked at it, the more the feeling of dread and self-loathing crept into his mind.

" _Ozpin took great lengths to get you into Beacon, what with your family's history. Is this how you repay him for what he has done_?" he remembered Glynda telling him when she and Ozpin confronted him in his apartment two months ago. He winced to himself as he continued to repeat what she had said in his mind.

" _I was sorely disappointed when you left. I thought better of you; perhaps I thought you had a bit more integrity than that_ ," he then heard the voice of Professor Port echo in his mind, which forced him to reel back and feel like he was almost going to throw up.

" _Do you hate me too_?" he had asked Vaughn when he told him the story of his twin sister's upbringing.

" _No, sir, or at least hate wouldn't be the word I would choose. More like, disappointment, but with a smidgen of understanding_ ," he remembered Vaughn's reply. He gritted his teeth to try and keep from screaming as everything began to form an avalanche of self-hatred in his mind. He decided that it would be best to banish these thoughts by distracting himself with more work. He had already eaten enough, and he was down to half of his last fillet but then he looked down at the ground. There, he saw the same fox that he had seen before but this time with a group of kits that were accompanying her.

 _"A mother,"_ he thought. He sighed and looked down at the fillet again, and decided to give the scraps to her. As well as the heads and offal, whatever he hadn't used when he had prepared his lunch. He slowly made his way down the ladder off the roof and the foxes slowly backed away as he descended. Not wanting to scare them off, he threw the leftovers to them and went to retrieve the heads and guts that he was going to compost. As he watched the mother let the kits eat first, a smile crept onto his face. However, it didn't last long as his previous thoughts still haunted his mind. The insidious feeling that he was a disappointment festered in his mind; he sighed to himself before he went into the cottage to retrieve his tools, this time with his sword and scabbard at his waist, remembering how he had been caught off guard at the stream. Emerging from the house again to climb back up the ladder, he began to remove any old and loose shingles from the roof.

* * *

( **The previous day** )

HAVC was with JNPR in the school's dining hall to study, as well as to enjoy their meals. The topics ranged from history to the different Huntsmen and Huntresses of legend. Zed was still freaking out over what happened with Jaune, so eventually the topic redirected to him. Jaune then revealed that he had been training with Pyrrha for the past few days, and no one objected to this. No one could think of a better instructor than Pyrrha when it came to learning how to fight.

"Aww man, it's in your blood!" Zed announced as he continued to praise Jaune.

"Are you sure you aren't praising him because he stood up to Cardin?" Cecilia jokingly asked.

"Both!" Zed replied, and Vaughn couldn't help but sputter as he tried to contain his laughter. After a moment, the entire table erupted into laughter.

"But Zed is right," Haiiden said with a smile; he was the first one to calm down, and he leaned on the table so as to get closer to Jaune. He remembered the man that he had to bury in Mistral, the man with no name. "You bear an amazing name, with a glorious legacy. You have the Crocea Mors, the very weapon that defines who your family is, as well as who you are."

Jaune's cheeks began to turn red, and he looked away as he scratched the back of his head. He felt a tad embarrassed at the attention that he was currently receiving.

"Well, I am still training. Don't want you guys to get disappointed when I end up not making it. So maybe save the praise for when I actually earn my name," Jaune said and smiled sheepishly, hoping that his words came across as a request.

* * *

( **Present Day** )

" _A name_ ," Haiiden thought. He had been so trapped in his mind that he didn't realize how much time had passed. The sun was going down now and the sky had turned a vivid orange in the west to signal that it was going to be dark soon. He got down from the roof and back away from the house to get a better look at it. It already looked much better than it had when he'd arrived. It was enough work for the day, and he decided to that he would do the rest tomorrow, but he had to do something first. He went back inside the house and retrieved a rucksack from inside and rushed to the stream.

Haiiden crouched down and dipped his left hand into the water to collect some stones that were about the size of his fist, which he placed in the bag. With a groan, he heaved the rucksack over his shoulder when it had become full and rushed it back to the house. He went around to the back, and stopped at the mound that he had been eyeing on and off throughout the entire day. One by one, he set the stones next to each other so that they bordered the mound in a circle, as a marker. As he went back inside, he got ready in front of a mirror as he got into his usual garb: His white, button-less and zipper-less coat, which exposed his chest and was cinched at the waist by a belt. He removed the leather glove from his right hand and replaced his gauntlet on his arm, then looked down at it for a long moment. For a while, he lost himself at the sight, and remembered how he had received it in the first place. He shook his head to relieve himself of the thoughts that were plaguing him, and he turned to a small couch that faced a fireplace. On top, was draped his mother's shawl with intricate designs sewn onto it, a snowflake and with little laces and fringe on the edges. He picked it up and felt the fabric with his left hand, letting each individual strand pass between his fingers and thumb. He took a deep breath as he finally wrapped it around his neck and let it drape over his chest. As he stepped to leave the cottage, he noticed that on one of the tables, one of the picture frames had fallen over. At the base of the frame, was a necklace that encircled it, and when he saw it he couldn't help but let out a sigh. He approached it and set the frame upright, staring into it to see the photo of his mother and he then picked up the necklace that was around it. It was made of silver and was adorned with different charms. One was a snowflake, then a four pointed star, a rose, and a bird, but no matter how detailed it was, he was never able to distinguish what kind of bird. His thumb gently rubbed over each charm, especially the snowflake, and set the necklace back down around the photo of his mother, making it appear as if she was still wearing it in some way.

" _I am ready_ ," he thought as he stepped outside.

* * *

( **The previous day** )

"What about _your_ weapons? Do they have names like mine?" Jaune asked just shortly after he had made his previous comment. HAVC looked back to each other and shrugged, except for Haiiden who had frozen in his seat.

"Psh. No," Zed exclaimed and scoffed at the thought. "Naming your weapon is pointless."

"I don't know Zed. I agree with Haiiden that the weapons we use define us," Cecilia interjected and pulled out her claymore. Its long blade was nearly as long as she was tall, and had a cross guard that formed in the shape of a "V". She chuckled to herself; she had never given her weapon a name before, as the thought had never crossed her mind, but if it did have a name, it would have to be a name that defined her. "I think I will call it 'Glacies Lamina'e, from a dead, ancient language in Mantle, before it was destroyed in the Great War."

JNPR all looked to one another as they wondered what it meant. Even Zed, who looked at her with genuine curiosity as he wondered why she had chosen that name.

"It means 'The Blade of Ice'," she elaborated, and everyone nodded as they finally understood the logic behind the name. It fit her well, especially since she was able to manifest her Aura and her Semblance through her weapon, almost as if she was using it as a wand to direct her attacks, and allow her to form ice to trap her enemies.

Vaughn then thought back to his weapon, however, he didn't want to pull it out like his sister did.

"I think I'll refrain from naming it for now," Vaughn responded, much to his sisters disappointment.

* * *

( **Present Day** )

Haiiden stared down at the mound behind his home, with his hand on the hilt of his blade as he continued to look down at it. After a few moments, there was more rustling from the bushes but this time he was prepared, and saw the group of Beowolves that had returned, and stared at him from the bushes. Or rather, he merely saw the glowing of their red eyes that betrayed their locations; apparently, they were attracted to his feelings of despair and self-loathing. He glared back at them, choosing not to move from his spot as he tightened his grip on his sword. He stared down the largest one of the group, the Alpha. However, the pack leader's eyes moved from Haiiden, then onto the mound that he was standing in front of. It lowered its head as it glared at it then snapped its attention back to Haiiden and let out a low, guttural growl.

"You know what this place is, huh?" Haiiden growled in reply and turned to face the Beowolf. It bared its teeth at him in response, while the rest of the pack seemed to get ready to attack, not in offense, but rather in case Haiiden was to make a move against them. "How many of your kind have died here? Hundreds? Thousands?"

The Beowolf then replied with a snarl and hesitantly stepped out of the bushes towards Haiiden. With lightning fast speed, he quickly drew his sword and readied it in front of him. Baring his teeth at the Alpha as well. This sudden act of aggression stopped the Alpha in its tracks, and again they were left in a standoff as they stared each other down.

"And yet, now that she is dead, you still continue to die here," Haiiden said under his breath and stepped forward towards the Alpha, who quickly backed away and ran back into the forest, with the rest of the pack following behind it. He sighed in relief, knowing that he was too tired to fight them all, but he seemed to not care whether or not he died in this moment. With his blade in hand, he lifted it up to get a better look at it. The sun was still setting and still had maybe an hour before it went completely dark. However, whatever light remained was enough to glimmer as it was reflected off of his blade.

He then turned back to the mound, and wondered how to best present himself before he finally let go of the handle, just enough to let it fall so that the blade pointed downward. Then he slowly lowered it so that it stuck into the ground as kept his hand loosely on the hilt.

"Hey mom," Haiiden said with a sheepish smile, a small glimmer of hope resided in his mind that he would get some kind of response. None came.

"I'm sorry. I know it has been a while, but I have been rather busy. Huntsman stuff, you know?" He continued, and his sheepish smile lingered. "I am not an official Huntsman yet, but I am getting there.

"However, I did have a little fall from grace," he said with a smile and laughed to make himself feel better, but he knew it wasn't funny. It never was. "I dropped out of school. I know what you would have done, you would have put your hands on your hips, and with your warm smile you would have scolded me for leaving.

"You would have told me that this is not what a Huntsman does. A Huntsman must stick with things until the end, and never abandons anyone," he said suddenly, not realizing what he had just said until after the words had parted from his lips. He swallowed as he realized that he had abandoned the friends that he had made at Beacon, but he had come back, surely that redeemed him, _Didn't it_ _?_ His breathing began to quicken as he became nervous, almost ashamed that he would approach his mother after what he had done. He felt unworthy to be in her presence as he tried to think of rationalizations for him leaving, but came up with none.

"Mom, I'm so sorry," he said as he collapsed onto his knees, holding back something in his throat to keep himself from choking. "I swear, whatever I did, I did because I thought of you. I want to become your living legacy and to make sure that your name did not die with you."

* * *

( **The previous day** )

"What about you?" Nora asked as she jumped up from her seat and slammed her hands down on the table, which startled everyone, even Haiiden, who was forcibly ejected from the void his thoughts had driven him to.

"W-What?" Haiiden stammered as he looked to everyone at the table as he almost forgot what they were talking about.

"What is the name of your weapon?" She yelled out and stood on the table to strike a pose. "Maybe 'Slasher'. Ooooh! Or maybe, 'The Punisher'!"

"Stop it, Nora, before you hurt yourself," Ren said with a sigh, a hand against his cheek as he pulled her down from the table and back onto her seat. She smiled at Ren, acting innocent before she turned back to Haiiden.

"Just a thought," she concluded. Haiiden couldn't help but smile but he only used the smile to mask the feelings of pain that he felt.

"Ummm, like Jaune, I think I'd rather wait until I've earned the right to give my weapon a name," he responded, then got up from his seat and walked away. He had decided to go and visit Ozpin as he felt he needed something to keep his mind off the subject. The two teams watched as he walked away, then looked back to each other while Zed responded with a shrug, confused as to why he had suddenly left their conversation.

" _It already has a name_ ," Haiiden thought.

* * *

( **Present Day** )

"That's right. Your sword does have a name," he whispered as he leaned on the blade of his mother's, a keepsake that was gifted to him by Ozpin when he had come of age. The blade had embedded itself into the earth just enough to support his weight as he leaned on it. "You named it after dad: "Bringer of Light". You always told me that he thought it was weird to name your sword after him, but you always insisted that he brought light into your life. The 'Bringer of Light', you used this sword to bring light to everyone's lives and with the help of your Semblance, you helped maintain the fires in everyone's soul."

He felt a sense of pride swell within him as he remembered the heroic deeds of his mother. He thought of how Ozpin, and even the other Professors always praised her for her fighting skills and how much she cared for those around her.

" _She always had a big heart with a lot of love to give_ ," Ozpin told Haiiden, and for a moment he could have sworn that Glynda was on the verge of tears.

" _I unfortunately do not know YOU_ ," He then remembered the familiar voice of Lipesce say in his mind. Gritting his teeth when he heard that man and he felt a hatred for him that could only be matched by the hate he felt for Ironwood. " _His file was misplaced on its way here_."

But he knew that was a lie. And what's more, Lipesce knew that Haiiden knew it was a lie as well.

"And how do people thank you for what you have done? Hmm?" He asked with a growl and again, no response came. The lack of any sound made Haiiden remember the harsh reality that his mother was dead. Again, breathing quickly to keep himself from crying, or rather from screaming into the night. Only when he realized that anything he did at that point was futile, did he allow himself to calm down.

"Huntsmen are strong. We don't cry," he whispered to himself, remembering of all the times when he cut and scraped himself, and how he was always reassured his mother.

"I am tired, mom. I hope you don't mind if I get some rest," He asked and hoped his mother would allow him to get some shut-eye. He felt the burdens of the world weigh heavily on him, and for a moment, even if it was just for a few seconds, he wanted to be relieved of it. He slowly wrapped his arms around the hilt of his blade, allowing them to rest on its cross guard. As his eyes closed, he began to hum the same tune that he always heard in his dreams as he slowly drifted to sleep; comfortable at the idea that his mother and the "Bringer of Light" would protect him.

* * *

"Yes?" Ozpin said as he answered the next call that went to his Scroll.

"Hello, Headmaster. This is Lipesce," the man on the other end of the call replied with the usual serious tone in his voice.

"How can I help you, Colonel?" Ozpin asked, turning his head to Glynda to see what her reaction was, only to see her shrug in response.

"Nothing at all, Headmaster. You have already helped enough, I am just calling to congratulate you," he continued.

"Congratulate me?" Ozpin asked with a raised brow. Keeping his eyes on Glynda and noticed that she also had a raised brow as she tried to guess what Lipesce was saying.

"Why, for how well you train your students, of course. If all of them have this much skill then I am really looking forward to seeing their careers as Huntsmen and Huntresses," Lipesce continued and picked up his tea from its saucer and sipped from it.

"As Huntsmen protecting humanity, I hope they won't have to be called by the military again," Ozpin responded with a hint of disgust in his voice. He had always opposed the idea but had been forced to go along with it.

"Oh yes. Of course. By the way, you don't mind if I keep their profiles a while longer, do you?" Lipesce asked as he set the tea back down onto its saucer.

"As long as I get them back, and no one else touches them," Ozpin replied.

"Of course, Headmaster. The information will remain confidential, I promise. Have a good night," Lipesce concluded and quickly hung up the Scroll, the call disconnecting on his end.

"Good night." Ozpin growled into the dead connection, and slowly set the Scroll down before he looked up at Glynda.

Back in Mistral, Lipesce chuckled to himself lightly as he opened each file to take a quick peek while a young woman then approached him with another folder and handed it to Lipesce.

"Oh, are these the photos from the Knight-130 cameras?" He asked with a hint of curiosity and strangely, with a touch of excitement.

"Yes, sir," she replied before Lipesce waved her to go away, and she bowed before she left.

"Let's see." He whispered as he pulled out a photo of Cecilia, her head turned away as she spoke with a soldier back at the base about Colonel Sceryei. He then opened another folder and inside was another photo but this was older as it showed a younger version of Cecilia. He removed the photo and replaced it with the updated one and scanned the contents of the cover sheet.

NAME: CECILIA SCERYEI

D.O.B: FEBRUARY, 8th 908

HAIR COLOR: PURPLE

EYE COLOR: GREY

OCCUPATION: HUNTRESS IN TRAINING; CURRENTLY ATTENDING BEACON ACADEMY

WORK HISTORY: FORMER ATLESIAN SOLDIER, RANK: ACTING LIEUTENANT; DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED. DECORATED WITH THE ATLESIAN STAR CROSS WITH CLUSTERS

MISC INFO: ADOPTED FATHER: COLONEL ANATOLYI SCERYEI (STILL MIA); BIOLOGICAL TWINS WITH VAUGHN SCERYEI

Lipesce then skipped the rest of her information as it was not relevant. The next photo he pulled out was Vaughn's. Just like with Cecilia's, he pulled out the outdated photo and replaced it with an updated one. Just like with Cecilia, his head was turned as he explained how he mixed Dust to Haiiden. He then began to scan the contents of the folder after he had replaced the photo.

NAME: VAUGHN SCERYEI

D.O.B: FEBRUARY, 8th 908

HAIR COLOR: GREY

EYE COLOR: GREY

OCCUPATION: HUNTSMAN IN TRAINING; CURRENTLY ATTENDING BEACON ACADEMY

WORK HISTORY: FORMER ATLESIAN SOLDIER, RANK: ACTING LIEUTENANT; DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED

MISC INFO: ADOPTED FATHER: COLONEL ANATOLYI SCERYEI (STILL MIA); BIOLOGICAL TWINS WITH CECILIA SCERYEI

The next photo was of Zed. This photo didn't capture his usual moment where he was always grinning but rather one of his darker moods where he was playing with his karambit.

NAME: ANDERS "ZED" IGNIS

D.O.B: JULY 12th 908

HAIR COLOR: ORANGE

EYE COLOR: GREEN (ORANGE WHEN ANGERED)

OCCUPATION: HUNTSMAN IN TRAINING; CURRENTLY ATTENDING BEACON ACADEMY

WORK HISTORY: UNKNOWN

MISC INFO: FATHER IS A WELL-KNOWN BUSINESSMAN FOR THE SCHNEE FAMILY COMPANY

"Last, but certainly not least," Lipesce mused to himself, seemingly with a smug grin as he then picked up the photo of Haiiden. This one showed Haiiden looking into the camera of the Knight androids. When he first received the file, he was curious as to why it had the large red "Classified" printed on it. "All because of your father, you too, are Vale's best kept secret."

After he opened the folder, he then sighed as he slowly placed the photo over a box marked "photo here". There was no photo to replace as the box was already opened upon opening the folder.

NAME: [DATA EXPUNGED]

D.O.B: [DATA EXPUNGED]

HAIR COLOR: [DATA EXPUNGED]

EYE COLOR: [DATA EXPUNGED]

OCCUPATION: [DATA EXPUNGED]

WORK HISTORY: [DATA EXPUNGED]

MISC INFO: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Lipesce closed his eyes and smiled when he had finished scanning the contents of the file. "You are an interesting young man, aren't you? I wish you luck in your future endeavors, 'Haiiden'.

"In the meantime, we will be watching. And waiting. And one day soon, the time will come for you and your friends."

****End of Volume One****

**To be continued in Volume 2**

* * *

( **Thank you for sticking by for so long. :) Me and a really good friend have been able to add the final polish to the story, and now have set it to complete. To show my thanks for sticking by for so long, I have commissioned artwork for team HAVC. Enjoy!** )

 **nip540(D O T)deviantart( M)/art/OC-TEAM-HAVC-688031868**

( **Big thanks to Gamera Obscura for editing, as well as animegirl144 and bluhawk19 for their help. Check out their profiles, they have great stories. Also, big thanks to OutOfCuriosity for sticking with me this long, and allowing me the use of his OCs as well.** )


	18. Vol 2: Chapter 1

**...**

 **RWBY: Ghosts of the Past: Vol 2  
An RWBY Fanfiction**

 **Story by DenZatz and Gamera Obscura**  
 **Written by DenZatz**  
 **Edited by Gamera Obscura**

 **(DISCLAIMER: I wrote this story in an attempt to guess where the show was going, with OCs as fun side characters. However, seeing as where the show is "really" going, I decided to take the liberty and just make a completely new story altogether, while borrowing details from the show as my story moves along.)**

 **(NOTE: After some thought, I thought it was dumb to split the volumes into different stories, so I decided to mix them. The old volume 2 will be kept, but I will not split Volume 3 into its own story.)**

* * *

"Come on, sir! Get up!" Cecilia screamed as she took Haiiden by the sleeve of his coat and pulled him up off the ground. "I thought you would have gotten it through your thick skull by now!"

Haiiden gritted his teeth and shook his head angrily as he began to dust himself off. "Give me a break! I was blindsided, alright?"

"You got blindsided," she repeated with disbelief as she kept her stare, then ducked as Raine flew over her head before falling to the ground with a thud. "And you call yourself a leader!"

"Cecilia- jeez! Calm down!" Coco interjected as she tried to stop the two teammates from bickering; while the sounds of bone and sinew clashing against each other could be heard all around them, as their teammates and enemies alike were knocked to the ground. Cecilia was already preparing to throw a punch, in an attempt to "wake up" her leader, but then took a deep breath and stopped herself. Instead, she gave Haiiden a cold stare while she watched him quickly dust himself off. Then, suddenly, something struck him in the cheek, which made him stagger back slightly, as the object that struck him landed in his hands. He stared at it for a split, and then a sudden realization hit him like a freight train.

" _Oh, shi-."_

Before he could even finish his thought, that freight train- in this case a body- slammed into him and plowed him back into the ground with a gut-wrenching impact. He shook his head as he tried to dismiss the ringing in his ears, his mind still dazed after having landed with such force. He looked up to see who it was that had brought him down, and the first thing he saw was a pair of breasts crushed against his chest. He turned red and looked up further to see that it was Celise, and she was giving him a rather unsettling grin.

"My eyes are up here, big boy," she said with a slight wink as they made eye contact before she ground her hips into his seductively and bit her lower lip. "Come here often?" She chuckled to herself as she pushed herself off of him before turning back to walk over to her team; her hair whipping to the left as she turned her body.

"Shut up," Haiiden said in reply as he got back up again; once more, he turned to Cecilia to see that she had a rather perturbed expression, before turning to walk back to their team, some of which were just getting back up and getting together in a huddle to discuss strategies. He began to pick up the pace to catch up with Cecilia, and they both began to walk together.

"We can still win this if you stop making mistakes, and actually _act_ like a leader," she growled. Her fists tightened as she continued to stalk towards their team, which was comprised of Yatsuhashi, Coco, Raine, and Nadira, in addition to Haiiden and Cecilia.

"Maybe if you let me act like a leader, then _maybe_ we can win," Haiiden replied and rolled his eyes; which Cecilia noticed but decided to ignore it as they finally reached the team, most of whom were reluctant to look up at the two comrades as they shouted back and forth angrily at each other.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she demanded, and stalked over to Haiiden; trying to make herself seem taller than him, although he had several inches on her.

"It means that this entire time, YOU have been to coming up with the plans and strategies, most of which SUCK!" Haiiden yelled back as he noticed Cecilia had started to raise her voice and he began to make himself look taller as well in an attempt to outdo her.

"Well, I was in the military! I think I would know about—" she attempted to retort.

"Well, we're not in the military, are we?" Haiiden countered, and this left Cecilia speechless. She still kept her angered gaze but sputtered as she tried to come up with a coherent argument.

"But in battle-"

"This isn't a battle! This is a damn game!" Haiiden finished as he threw the object at her and it bounced off her head; she stood stone silent, her eyes widened as she eyed her leader and for a moment, Haiiden could feel a stab of fear in his heart. All of a sudden, a snicker from behind Cecilia broke the silence, and she turned to see Coco covering her mouth as she tried to hide her amusement. A soft thud could be heard several yards away as the object that had struck her in the head- a round ball about the size of a cantaloupe- landed gently on the green grass of Beacon's courtyard. For a moment she stood silently before she chuckled to herself as well. After a moment, everyone in the group burst into laughter, while Cecilia covered her mouth and looked away. When the laughs turned into sighs, she shook her head at Haiiden and smiled at him.

"I can't believe you just did that," she said to him with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Believe it!" he replied with an evil grin, and the laughter resumed.

* * *

It had been a week since Haiiden had come back from the break that he had requested. He had spent most of the two days working to fix his childhood home, applying a new paint job, as well as having replaced the shingles on top of the roof; even though the first day was rather rough since he was alone with his thoughts, thoughts of his mother, he had managed to find some semblance of inner peace. The remainder of his time he had spent hunting food, cleaning, cooking, and eating it, and feeding the leftovers and remains to the mother fox and her kits. He left his home late at night the second day, and the Academy's VTOL was already waiting there to pick him up, as per the schedule that he had given to the female Faunus pilot.

He was already tired after a long day of work, and didn't stick around long enough with his fellow students that milled around the grounds and in the halls of their dormitory to strike up any conversations after he had returned to the school. He mostly waved in greeting with a smile as he lumbered down the hallways towards his dorm room. When he realized that he was nearing his team's dorm, he made a conscious effort to silence his footsteps, as he expected his teammates to be asleep by now. However, when he opened the door and peered inside, he saw the beaming faces of the twins staring back at him through the crack of the door. Then all of the sudden, Zed jumped into view, startling Haiiden as his mind was still muddled, and catching him by surprise; his body was drained, and his ability to react to the sudden appearance was slow. Instead, instinct kicked in and he immediately jumped back before he lost all footing and fell over against the wall opposite his door, and slid down and onto the carpet. The door was opened further as Zed stepped out and shook his head at Haiiden's display of clumsiness.

"Get up, mate," he said with a slight chuckle in his voice, as he bent down and extended an arm to his friend. Haiiden was still a little dazed after the scare and stared at his friend for a few moments before he raised his arm to grab onto Zed's. As their hands locked together, Zed immediately pulled him up off the floor and put an arm around his neck; both of them walked back into their dorm once Zed had reached down to pick up the bag. As they entered the room, Haiiden looked on with a perplexed expression and wondered why they hadn't gone to bed. The smile on Cecilia and Vaughn grew wider, as if they knew what he was thinking.

"We were waiting for you to come back, sir," Vaughn said, as he stood up and saluted the return of their leader. Haiiden returned the salute with one of his own, but it was sloppy, and it was clear that he didn't take it as seriously; he only wanted to humor Vaughn's military mannerisms, but was too tired to do it properly. His gaze then turned to Cecilia, and he was surprised to see a soft smile on her face. Not one displaying any cockiness or arrogance, just a smile that she has often kept reserved for private moments with her brother, Vaughn. She stood up, and took a moment to move her hair from her right eye, exposing her entire face as she too, saluted their team Captain.

"Welcome back, sir. Did you enjoy your R&R?" she asked.

"Yeah. With all that's happened this year, a break was necessary," he replied and tried his best to force himself through his fatigue, as he looked up at his teammate. "I hope you guys were able to hold down the fort for a bit."

"We managed, sir," she said and placed both hands behind her, and stood at attention. "Some people have been asking about you, especially CFVY, who were worried that you had left again."

"Well, I did promise that I would come back," Haiiden responded, but now his attention was focused solely on the bed.

"They will be glad to hear it, sir," she said, her smile wavering a little as she began to notice that her leader was now eyeing the bed. She seemed disappointed at first, but stepped aside to allow him to move past her.

Haiiden chuckled. "Thank you Cecilia, it's good to see you again," he said as he walked around her. She hid a smile as he stepped to his bed, trying her best to hide it from the rest of her team; but then something crossed her mind, as if she had just remembered something important that she'd forgotten.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, and grabbed a key from her nightstand as she moved over to the desk near the door. She opened the ornate wooden box that her father had left her on the corner of the table, and pulled out the photograph that Haiiden had given to her before he left. It had been a little insurance payment that was meant to guarantee that he would return. He took the photo, and the thoughts that he had banished the day before, began to invade his mind again. The smile that he wore turned into a frown as he stared at the picture. It showed a woman who wore all white, and her breastplate shone as it reflected the light from the summer sun. Her armor had intricate cloth designs to make her seem more angelic, with frills on the neck, where some cloth pieces overlapped each other. She kept her hands together in front of her, and was staring into the camera. She had sad eyes that seemed to convey that she had seen a lot, and had an air of wisdom about her.

"Thought you might want that back," she said with a smile, but it disappeared when he looked up at her after having scanned the photograph. "Everything alright, sir?"

"Yeah, I mean-" he replied and began to sway on his bed as the fatigue began to take its toll. "I think its best that we all get some rest. We've still got the rest of this semester to finish."

"Yes, sir!" the twins responded in unison before the both dressed down and climbed onto their beds. Zed, however, chuckled to himself before he looked back to Haiiden and gave a wink.

* * *

HAVC, CNBR, and CFVY had decided to enjoy a weekend to themselves instead of studying, and Zed had eventually suggested a game of "Miyoki", a sport that was often played in the North. He took some time to explain the rules, however Velvet already knew how to play, considering she was from the North as well, and had watched games with her family on the "telly", but had never played it herself, as she considered it to be a "man's game". After explaining the rules of the game, everyone agreed to try it out, and got together in Beacon's courtyard. Zed and Haiiden were the team Captains, and Haiiden decided to let Zed pick first.

"Getting a little competitive, are we, Cecilia?" Coco joked.

"Yeah, I guess I am. Losing is not an option for me," Cecilia replied before looking back to Haiiden.

"Ok, 'Captain'. You have control of the game, how would you go about doing this?" Cecilia said with a smirk and crossed her arms as she and Haiiden joined with the rest of the group; they all huddled together so that the opposing team, which was comprised of Zed, Vaughn, Byeli, Velvet, Fox, and Celise, would not be able to hear them.

"I knew I shouldn't have let Zed pick first. I should have known he would have gone with the more agile students on his team; they've got all the Faunus," he remarked as he peeked over his team and at Zed, who was looking back at him with a grin.

"They got all of us covered, whatever we try; they always manage to counter us," Coco joined in and looked over to each of her teammates, although Raine had been in the game, he hadn't been pulling his own weight, and Nadira didn't add any input as she was mostly silent.

"Then we need to make it so that they can't cover all of us," Haiiden responded and everyone looked at him with a perplexed expression. Even he didn't know how it would work, but it seemed most logical in his head. "We need to make it so that most of them are focusing on one of us; leaving a large enough hole for the others to get past them."

"How are we going to do that?" Cecilia asked, which left Haiiden gritting his teeth and shaking his head.

"We need someone who can take on multiple people at once," he said as he rubbed his chin; looking to each team member until his gaze fell upon Yatsuhashi. He was rather large for his age. For any age, really, given the fact that he was over seven feet tall. Then something hit Haiiden.

"Yatsuhashi, how many do you think it would take to bring you down?" Haiiden asked; for a moment Yatsuhashi scanned the other team, though they were fast and agile, they were not the strongest physically. Fox and Celise, maybe, but not the Faunus, and certainly not Velvet or Byeli. However, the plan did sound plausible, since they would need multiple people to bring him down.

"Two or three, four at best." Yatsuhashi replied.

"Ok, Yatsuhashi is going run the ball. Some of us will protect him while some of us run ahead, and once they're wide open, Yatsu will throw the ball," Haiiden continued.

"Okay, got it; who's going defense and who is offense?" Coco asked.

"Coco and Cecilia will defend. We don't want too many defenders to allow them to cluster together. Anyone who's uncovered should run ahead to the Terminus Zone," he continued, but not before turning to Raine. "I'm gonna need you to be on your best game out there Raine."

"Seriously? Raine?" Cecilia asked, with a hint of disbelief in her voice before she turned to Raine and scanned him with a quirked brow.

"I've seen this guy in action," Haiiden replied while pointing a thumb at Raine, "When he puts his mind to it, he can move."

"Do I have to?" Raine groaned.

"Raine, I swear, if you give us your 'A' game today, I will buy you as much food as you can eat. You pick the restaurant," Haiiden bargained, and for a moment Raine's expression changed from that of laziness to a greedy look. For once he was working his mind as he thought about this offer.

"Got it," he replied, smiling.

"Alright, birds and blokes, let's see how this works," Haiiden concluded in a playful send-up of Zed's Northern slang, and the team all put their hands on top of one another's before dispersing; Haiiden was carrying the ball with a grin and squeezed it as he walked with his team to the scrimmage line. Zed's team was already waiting for them, some of the stretching, while Celise feigned a yawn as she waited.

"You get downed one more time, mate, and possession of the ball goes to us," Zed said coyly, trying to taunt the opposing team.

"Trust me, we are not going down this time," Haiiden retorted.

"Doesn't matter. One more point and we win," Zed countered with a grin, and crouched down as both sides got ready. "Remember everyone: ignore Yatsuhashi; he's slow, so we don't have to worry about him as much."

Haiiden couldn't help but feel that he had to laugh at this, however, he held it in; he turned to Yatsuhashi, who was already staring Zed down with a blank expression. Haiiden held the ball in the middle of the scrimmage line, a grin growing on his face as he continued to glare at Zed.

"Fifth toss! Play!" Haiiden yelled out and immediately yanked the ball back from the scrimmage line, then lobbed it to Yatsuhashi, who caught it easily. Upon noticing this, the grin on Zed's face disappeared, especially upon seeing Yatsuhashi run in his direction, coupled with the fact that he had the ball. He was running straight at Zed, with the ball cradled in his arm, and his shoulder poised to plow through Zed.

"Hey now Yatsu, I was just kidding!" Zed yelled out as he jumped out of Yatsuhashi's way. No one on Zed's team knew what to do for a moment, instead looking on with a confused expression. Especially since Zed had told his team that no one should go for Yatsuhashi, but Yatsu had the ball now, and they debated whether or not to get him. After a few moments of shouting to one another, everyone on Zed's team began to charge at Yatsuhashi. Byeli was only able to hug his leg to slow him down, with Vaughn trying to take him down, but Yatsuhashi remained strong and trudged through. Zed watched with a perplexed expression, and finally spotted Haiiden and Raine both running for the flag, with Raine running the fastest, as he had reached the flag which marked the Terminus Zone- which was really just Raine's jacket on a stick- and he had reached it twice as fast as Haiiden.

"Hey, hey! Stop them!" Zed yelled and pointed at Haiiden and Raine and although Raine had already passed her, Celise decided to go for Haiiden. With a grin she ran at full speed, and to prepare himself for her attack, he lowered himself, and waited for her to match his stance to tackle him; with a grin, Haiiden jumped over her and made her miss. She slammed into the ground, while Haiiden landed safely and continued to run forward. Zed, out of frustration, threw his hands up and went in to tackleYatsuhashi. Upon seeing Zed and Fox charging at him, and Zed's eyes orange now, he then realized that he had to throw the ball. He was just about to throw it to Haiiden, but he saw that Celise had gotten up and was already closing the distance between them; instead, he threw it to Raine just before Zed and Fox were able to take him down with Byeli's help. The ball flew true and his team was able to score a point as Raine caught the ball.

"I can't believe that worked," Cecilia said under her breath as she caught up with Haiiden and Raine. Then Celise came and tackled Haiiden again, for fun but also out of frustration since he had dodged her first tackle. He groaned as he got back up, while the rest of the team joined up with him.

"Not bad," Celise pointed out before she turned back to walk back to her team.

"Not bad at all," Zed added and grinned at Haiiden, with his hands at his hips. "But we still got this game."

"We'll see, bloody git" Haiiden said, mocking Zed's Northern accent again, and kept the ball on him for now, as he huddled with his team again to discuss another strategy. "Ok, now here comes the hard part. We need to somehow keep them in a close group; we can't let them spread out too far."

"That'll be virtually impossible. We aren't exactly the fastest," Coco pointed out, again referring to the other team and how half of them were comprised of Faunus. Which left Haiiden in a situation where he had to further elaborate the plan, but he had no idea how.

"We will just have to wing it, but one thing is for certain: they can't get past us," Haiiden finished and everyone nodded their heads in agreement, although they were a little reserved, as this wasn't exactly a plan. The team then spread out and got ready to start running, but waited for Nadira to kick the ball, signaling the start of the next round. She threw it in the air, allowing her enough time to wind up for a kick, prepared just as it came down and kicked it with such force that it caused the air around it to be displaced, which made a spherical shockwave on impact as she cried out.

"First toss! Play!" Zed was the first to move, but he started to backpedal when he noticed how far the ball was going to go. He calculated where it was going to be, and jumped, just barely catching it and the speed of the ball threw off his landing; almost causing him to fall over when he touched down, but once he regained his footing, he turned to gain some energy and tossed the ball over to Vaughn. He turned and caught the ball as he began to run for the flag, with Haiiden's team running at him.

He saw that his sister was grinning at him as she began to charge him, moving faster than the rest of her team as she began to get ahead of them.

"Wait, Cecilia!" Haiiden yelled, hoping to keep the team together but she ignored her Captain's orders; she was having too much fun. She charged forward in an attempt to tackle him down, however, just as she jumped at him, he came to a quick stop and kicked to the right; making her miss, but she quickly rolled on the ground and used her momentum to spring to her feet again, charging at him once more.

At that moment, he realized that he couldn't get far until she got to him, his only choice was to throw it to the nearest teammate, which was Velvet. He threw it just before Cecilia managed to tackle him down, the ball flew true as Velvet caught the it, and continued to run. Then, using her Faunus agility, she dodged to the left as Nadira tried to grab her, her fingers just grazed Velvet's shirt, but not enough to get a grip. Velvet looked back with a smile but it quickly disappeared as she skidded to a halt in front of Coco.

"I don't want to hurt you, little lady," Coco told her as she looked hung her head low while looking up from the top of her sunglasses, and her hands on her hips. Just as she finished her warning, she tackled her friend to the ground; both then shared a laugh as Coco pulled Velvet back up, and then she quickly dusted her off before they both rejoined their teams.

"Nice one, Coco," Haiiden congratulated her, and the team huddled again. "We've just got to keep doing that; do not let anyone get past you."

Just as he finished, Haiiden looked back up to see what Zed was doing, and saw that they were spreading apart; which would then leave a gap in their own defenses, as they would have to spread out as well in order to cover them, and with half of the team being Faunus, their agility would help them immensely in this case.

"Damn, Yatsu, stay back for a bit. Intercept anyone who gets past us," Haiiden told Yatsuhashi, who then responded with a nod.

"Won't that leave an opening, sir?" Cecilia asked, cringing at the idea, but she was even more disgusted at the idea of losing.

"I'll deal with two of them, you guys cover the rest as best you can, and it would leave them with only two options. We will try to fake them out," Haiiden reassured her; she took a moment to think about this, finally looked perplexed, but nodded as it did seem to make some lick of sense. The team then put their hands in the middle and broke apart as they took up their positions.

"You got lucky," Zed yelled out with a grin, in an attempt to taunt his friend.

"Yeah? We'll see about that," Haiiden replied; he wasn't one for witty retorts.

"Second toss! Play!" Zed yelled again, this time back pedaling to give himself some room to concentrate. Scanning the field to see who would be open, Velvet was being blocked by Cecilia, Fox was being blocked by Nadira, and Raine was chasing after Vaughn, who had just gotten past him; however, he didn't want to throw it to Vaughn since Raine was closing in and didn't want to risk an interception. Haiiden was blocking Celise from advancing, who was tossing out some rather raunchy comments. Then he noticed that Byeli was running unopposed, and he took this opportunity to throw, just before Coco slammed into him.

"Ball's going for you, Byeli!" he yelled from the ground as Coco got off of him. Byeli quickly turned and winked as well as giving her half of a high five, running backwards as she eyed the ball that was flying towards her.

"Hmmm, this is quite the physical sport, huh, big boy?" Celise taunted Haiiden, which made him feel slightly uncomfortable and he raised his hands in the air in reply. She shook her head in response at this gesture, and it made her grin grow wider; then her attention switched to the left as she saw Byeli run past them. "Well then, we got this."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Haiiden replied and looked back at Byeli. For a moment, Celise looked at her as well, only when she continued to scan her surroundings, as well as take in what Haiiden said, did she realize what was happening.

"Byeli! Stop!" Celise yelled out, however, it was too late, as Byeli caught the ball and turned around; and ran right into Yatsuhashi.

"Meep!" Byeli let out a squeak as Yatsuhashi looked down at her, at first with a blank expression, then a smile crept onto his face, as he bent down and grabbed the little fox Faunus by the waist and slung her over his shoulder.

"Celise! Help!" Byeli yelled out, but her pleas for help were not genuine, and she was laughing as Yatsuhashi began to run back the way she came while carrying her over his shoulder.

"Throw the ball, girl!" Celise yelled out, feeling competitive and not wanting to lose; giving chase as she began to try and intercept Yatsuhashi but remembering how it took at least three people to bring him down, so instead, she decided to catch up and run behind him. "Give it here!"

Byeli placed a hand on Yatsuhashi's back, allowing to push herself off a little before throwing the ball to Celise. However, Haiiden came out of nowhere and snatched the ball just as it left her hand and he started to run for the flag. This surprised Celise, and she began to feel a little frustrated as she rolled up her sleeves and threw her chain at Haiiden. The chain wrapped around his leg and tripped him; she then began to pull him towards her until a loud voice stopped her.

"Celise! The rules were, no weapons!" Zed yelled out and waved for everyone to stop the game. Haiiden looked back at his ankle, and back at Celise, who was clearly frustrated at this point and let go of his leg. However, as he got back up, he noticed Zed's expression began to soften. For a moment, there was silence in the courtyard, both teams scanned each other's members, all of them wondering the same thing; what stopped them though, was the question of who was going to make the first move. After her gaze shifted between Zed and Haiiden, Cecilia then kicked off the ground and began to sprint for her coat on the sidelines, near a clutch of spectators; she picked up the Scroll that was inside and input a code. At that moment, a loud roaring could be heard and that was the signal for everyone to start reaching for their own Scrolls, and likewise, each input a code into their Scrolls.

The sky was filled with roaring, as they all had just launched their personal lockers, and they were being propelled towards the current positions of the teams. Before long, the roaring ceased, and instead was replaced by a whistling as the rockets fell to the ground; the earth shook as the lockers littered the courtyard and the doors blasted open, revealing all of their weapons as each student ran towards their respective lockers; each pulling out their weapons and spare armor.

"Game on!" Zed yelled, as the game resumed, but this time, with each player's full fighting ability being leveraged.

Beacon Historians called it the "First Battle for Beacon of 926". It all started with a single chain, and before anyone knew it, everyone was armed, with the Miyoki ball forgotten in the middle of the courtyard. Yatsuhashi was the first to strike, as he swung his sword in a wide arc over Byeli's head, which left a giant crater beneath him, Raine's jacket billowing in the like a flag in the chilly morning breeze, and half the opposing team was knocked off their feet from the shockwave. Vaughn fired his rifle, his non-lethal rounds poised to bring down the Eastern giant with their tranquilizing poison. The huge man managed to deflect most of the shots, but as Vaughn continued to fire, he knew he wouldn't be able to deflect the next volley. At that moment, Coco jumped in front her teammate, and helped to deflect the incoming shots with her handbag. Raine was knocked into the air, and he could be seen flying over her head, with Coco barely noticing as she fought.

Cecilia, for her part, rushed forward and swung her claymore, using her Semblance to make her sword appear to be on fire with an ethereal blue flame. The flame expressed a blue mist, which encased Zed in ice, but within seconds, Byeli rushed in to help her Miyoki teammate, and broke the ice with her staff. Zed, once freed, rallied his teammates as they got to their feet, and team which was comprised of all the Faunus members on the battlefield, were poised to make quick work of the enemy. Both teams rushed towards each other, some winding up to attack, while others were merely going to feign an attack to try and trick their opponents. Gunshots rang out, and the clashing of swords and metal split the air as the battle got fully underway. Spectators came out from the various buildings and dormitories to watch the spectacle, as the seemingly innocent game had turned into a pitched battle that left utter carnage in its wake. Before long, Haiiden was perched on top of a locker, which had been impaled on the ground of the courtyard, and pointed his sword at Zed.

"Zed!" He yelled out with a smile, as he singled out his friend amongst all the other potential targets.

"Haiiden!" Zed responded and brought his leg back, ready to kick the ground and propel himself forward to meet his friend in mortal combat. However, they would quickly realize that there was a storm brewing from among the group of spectators. As much as scholars disagree on who was winning the battle at this point, they universally agree on one major point, the turning point in this brief war: it all started to go very, very wrong with what historians have agreed to call "The Nora Incident".

"Nora!" The two heard, stopping just a few feet from each other as the cheerful voice had frozen them in place; they realized with dawning horror what the utterance of that name meant for them and their teammates. At that moment, the ground shook, and the two friends were blown off their feet and fell onto their backs amidst the soft grass as a rocket propelled grenade knocked them back and to the ground.

Nora Valkyrie, the constantly energetic and vivacious young girl from team JNPR, had jumped into the fray and left her team watching from the sidelines, part of the growing throng of students and instructors that were rapidly gathering.

Anyone who knew anything about Nora could have predicted what was going to happen next. The little lady was incensed as she eyed Haiiden and then Zed as they rushed to their feet, her hammer draped over her shoulders.

"You guys didn't invite me to play?" She cried out and stomped her foot on the ground with a growl, but then the incensed look turned into a grin as she picked up the ball and threw it towards Yatsuhashi. Out of instinct, he caught the object without thinking, but after he had processed what it was that was in his hands, he looked up with a note of panic on his face, as Nora then morphed her hammer into a grenade launcher. "Run!"

Staring down the barrel of Nora's grenade launcher, Yatsuhashi swallowed and lumbered down the field, the ground shook with each stomp of his foot and got faster as he realized that Nora was aiming for him and quickly fired. The grenade, which was the size and shape of a soda can with and was adorned with a pink heart on its front, lanced through the air and left a crater the size of an automobile in the ground behind him. Yatsuhashi almost tripped, then decided that carrying the ball was too much trouble, and threw it to Zed without giving it a second thought. Zed caught it with a wavering grin, which immediately disappeared as he realized that he had become Nora's new target. He debated with himself whether or not to run, but flinched as she fixed her aim on him. His only choice now was to make a break for the Terminus Zone, and he decided to run for the goal post in a zigzag pattern, knowing that if he could get the point, his team would win, Nora notwithstanding.

As he continued to run, he dodged more of her incoming shots, three of them, in fact, as his agility allowed him to zip out of the way as he heard the rocket propelled grenades approaching, one of which he had to jump over as it almost connected with his body, before deciding that this level of risk was no longer worth it; out of desperation, he threw the ball over to Cecilia, who was in the midst of swinging her sword downward at Celise, when the ball impaled itself onto the tip of her blade and deflated. She screamed in panic as she realized what it meant to have the ball, and immediately began to try and remove it by swinging her claymore to shake it loose as she bolted down the field towards her opposing team's Terminus Zone.

Despite the constant grenade fire, each team was still trying to score a goal. In her haste, however, Cecilia accidentally activated her Semblance again, and that had the unfortunate side effect of freezing the ball to the end of her blade, which made her shriek in helplessness as she threw her free arm in the air while uttering a series of oaths which onlookers, as well as historians, have been loathe to ever repeat.

Upon seeing Cecilia's helplessness, Nora changed her grenade launcher into her hammer and struck it into the ground, the head embedding itself and finally, as she stepped up onto its base, she pulled the trigger, which caused the head to discharge a grenade; the force of the explosion launched her into the air and she flew towards Cecilia, who accepted her fate and welcomed her death. With a cheery smile, Nora wound up her strike, and slammed the hammer into Cecilia's chest, knocking her back a few meters. Her sword, however, was spinning in the air, and as Cecilia lost contact with her sword, the ice melted and the ball slid off; right into Nora's hands.

"Ha! I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora announced in a sing-song chant as she watched her "subjects" groan while they got up off the ground. Some of them wobbled as they stood up and immediately fell over again, still dazed from the carnage bought upon them by Nora. Carnage, which many "Norologists" would study for many, many decades to come. Haiiden and Zed sat back to back, both of them wheezing and struggling to regain their breath, while Haiiden eyed Nora from a distance.

"Yes, your highness!" Haiiden shouted back, and was about to laugh, if only his sides didn't hurt from exhaustion. Nora was about to bow, until Glynda came, stalking up behind her with an annoyed expression, which switched to anger as she surveyed the damage to the school grounds; she had been notified by frightened spectators as they ran for the sanctuary of the school as things spun completely out of control on the pitch. Nora backed away slowly, whistling all the while with her grenade launcher hidden behind her back in the hopes that she wouldn't be suspected, as Glynda then whipped out her riding crop and began to use her magic to quickly erase the damage; in a matter of seconds, she had fully restored the courtyard, and made it look as if the destruction never happened. Even the ball was repaired and re-inflated. She gave one last glance at each group of students before turning to walk away. Everyone began to get back up slowly, the grogginess having left most of them, but they still felt dazed and forgetful as to who was in the lead before Nora's intervention; this issue has left many historians to argue who it was that ultimately won the battle, and the game, as The Battle for Beacon of 926 drew infamously to a close.

"Well. That was... entertaining," Pyrrha declared as she stopped in front of Haiiden, bending down and offering a hand to him. Haiiden shook his head as he thought to himself, the utter destruction brought about by this cheerful girl, and then all of it being erased by Glynda, made him wonder what exactly had just happened. When he finally managed to snap back into reality, he noticed the hand that had been offered to him, and let out a hearty laugh as he took the hand, and was pulled up. It had been the first time that Pyrrha had spoken to him since he had revealed that he had dropped out of Beacon the previous year. Perhaps she had been disappointed with him, and was left with her thoughts as she tried to process this revelation, but upon seeing how the relationship between Cecilia and him had improved, she decided to let go of her disappointment, even if he hadn't given an adequate answer as to why he had left in the first place.

Before long, the four teams, JNPR, CNBR, CFVY, and HAVC, got together, and made their way to the school's dining hall to discuss the events of the game.

* * *

Cinder walked quietly down the streets of Mistral's white district, along with Neopolitan, more commonly known as just "Neo", as they passed by bystanders who were unaware of who they were, and the plans they had set in motion. Neo spun her parasol over her shoulder before holding it over Cinder to block the afternoon sun from shining too brightly on her. Cinder grinned for a moment before they both turned into an alleyway and walked down the length of it, stopping in the middle, just outside of earshot of anyone from either side.

The two waited for a while, until seeing another pair approaching them from the opposite end of the alley: two teenagers, a female with light green hair and dark skin that wore a olive and white covering for her breasts, white pants with brown leather chaps, and little else, and a male with grey hair, dark clothing, and black metal boots. The unlikely pair walked nonchalantly towards them; upon confirming it was the two that she was waiting for, Cinder nodded towards Neo, who in turn lowered her head and bowed, before disappearing into thin air as she teleported away.

"Glad you two know how to arrive for an appointment on time," Cinder remarked, a hint of annoyance in her voice, but she had a smile on her face which made the two oblivious to her displeasure.

"I'm assuming that someone else isn't?" the grey haired boy named "Mercury" asked, while the green haired girl, named "Emerald" slapped him on the shoulder.

"As usual. He goes by his own time schedule, but at least I still have some form of control over him. He obeys me, lest I burn him to ashes where he stands," Cinder said. At that moment, a distortion in the air appeared as Neo returned, with Ash in tow, and as usual, he was wearing a sick grin as he came into view. It was a grin that even made Emerald slightly nauseated.

"You came in just at the right time, Neo," Ash commented as he eyed the pink and brown-haired girl from top to bottom, even though he has already met her, he still couldn't help but feel admiration for her, especially from the stories he'd heard about her. He even admired her heterochromia, with one brown eye and one pink eye, which matched her pink and brown hair, both of which made her unique. "Someone made a slight mistake; if you hadn't come in and taken me when you did, well, let's say there would have been another trail for someone to come upon to find me."

"So are you trying to get caught, or-" Emerald asked, concerned for their plans in the event that he really was apprehended, and annoyed that he would even joke about it so casually.

"It adds to the excitement," said a now bored Ash, while holding a notebook in one hand, which he handed to Cinder.

"A notebook? Really?" Mercury scoffed as he found it amusing that anyone nowadays would use a physical medium for when it came to writing.

"I was joking about being tracked. There is always so much killing to do. What's a little more?" Ash responded, as he watched Cinder scan the contents of the notebook; she took a few moments with each page before turning it to the next one. "Using a scroll to hold information is risky, you can be tracked- or hacked- easily."

Cinder was still in the conversation, however, she only responded with a nod as she continued to read the writing in the book. Inside was a list of names and strategic locations, as well as notes that Ash had written as he followed clues and leads for a particular person he had been hunting; but she had always managed to evade him.

"The targets that I requested; are they in here as well?" Cinder asked as she looked up at Ash from the corner of her eyes.

"Of course. Both of the new additions are here in Mistral as we speak," Ash responded and pointed to the names on the following page; even though Cinder had already seen them, but just wanted to make sure. She shut the notebook closed with a light clap and handed it to her subordinates, Mercury and Emerald.

"What's in here?" Mercury asked, and Emerald slapped him on the shoulder again for asking such a stupid question. However, it didn't matter to Cinder, and she instead decided to humor him a little.

"It's a list that Ash has been working on; assassination targets, strategic locations, as well as people that Ash considers 'loose ends'. Now, you two have your targets, the first two on the list on the most recent page marked under "Mistral", as well as your roles for the next phase of the plan. Remember: once we reach Vale, you will keep your hands clean. I don't want us to get caught early on and ruin everything we have been planning for years," Cinder commanded and the two nodded their heads in acknowledgement before they turned to walk away, but not before shooting a glance back at each other with a grin. Cinder continued to watch as the two left, but as they disappeared from view, Cinder turned her attention to Ash.

"Remember Ash, the Master may trust you, but I do not. Lie low," she warned, her Aura physically manifested and engulfed her body to further elaborate her warning.

"My target is much larger than the small fry that you are interested in, which was why I gave my list to you instead," Ash replied, nonchalantly, and he was just about to leave before he stopped and turned to Neo. "Mind if I snag a lift?"

For a moment, her smile wavered as she turned to Cinder for permission, which Cinder gave with a slight nod before Neo grabbed Ash by the sleeve and they both teleported away. A few moments later, she appeared in front of Cinder as Neo remembered that she had special orders for her as well.

"Neo, I may need you to stick by Roman Torchwick for a while in the event that he suffers any further setbacks," Cinder commanded and Neo responded with a curtsy before teleporting away again.

Cinder sighed as she stepped out of the alley, considering her own assassination target as she walked towards the city's lavender district.

* * *

Zed decided to turn in early for the day; the game had left him slightly sore, but the fun he had had made it more than worth it. He turned the corner and began to ascend a flight of stairs in his dormitory as he thought to himself for a bit. He thought of the fun they had all enjoyed, but also thought of Blake, as well as Roman. At that moment, he began to hear another set of footfalls, these ones descending the stairs, and at first, he paid no mind, at least until he saw the familiar blur of black pass by him. They both ignored each other at first, but the descending footsteps then stopped and Zed realized that he should stop as well.

"Zed," Blake whispered, which got his attention, but he didn't turn around to face her. Once she realized what he was doing, she decided to turn her back to him as well. "In case either of us ever found anything on Roman, Adam, or the White Fang, I think it would be wise to let each other know."

Zed kept his gaze straight ahead as he processed what it was that she was suggesting. He was still wary of his surroundings, as Blake's appearance had made him wonder if there were any more White Fang in Vale. There probably were, he knew, but he didn't want to draw any attention to himself, and associating with Blake for now made him fear that he would draw unwanted scrutiny. However, for old time's sake, he decided to humor her, and to hear her out.

"Okay, I'll let you know if I find out anything," Zed responded and was practically dying to just leave before they were seen together, then he heard Blake shuffle behind him, so he turned to face her and saw that she was holding out a piece of black chalk in her hand. He hesitantly took it, and for a moment, he took his time to examine the chalk in between his finger and thumb.

"It's a piece of chalk, Zed," Blake said, as she misinterpreted his reaction for confusion.

"I know what it is," Zed said with a scoff and looked up at her with a perplexed look. "What is this for?"

"In case either of us want to talk, we should have a way to signal it; when I want to talk, during the night, I'll write a 'Z' on your door, and you write a 'B' on mine if you want to call a meeting," she continued. "Check your door each morning then you leave. When a mark is left, that night, once the dining hall is closed after dinner, we will instead meet in the library. Pick a desk or table with an empty seat behind you; we can sit back to back and talk, like we just did on the stairs. My door is across the hall from Team JNPR."

Zed nodded in acknowledgement, and stuffed the chalk into his pocket and turned to walk back up the stairs. Just as he started to move again, he heard the second pair of footsteps, likewise, begin to descend as well.

* * *

( **Three days later** )

Emerald had been stalking her target in Mistral for the past few days now, as she observed his schedule and took notes of anything that she could use to better coordinate an elaborate plan to kill him. She and Mercury normally worked as a team, but she was the more calculating one of the pair, whereas Mercury preferred to just run in, guns blazing. As she continued to observe her target, she concluded that he was a scumbag; every day, after work, he would waste his ill gotten gain at a club, and drowned himself in alcohol and draxx, a popular and expensive street drug, and just generally being an unrepentant womanizer.

However, the most interesting part that she noticed was his money; his day job wouldn't allow him to spend so much on drugs and booze or the women that he would bring home with him. He had a dirty little secret that she was in on, as this man that she was stalking was a middleman named "Martin Rouge", who had been working with Roman in Mistral. He would help with shipments of Dust as well as other important deals, such as providing them with some weapons and explosives, as well as access to logistical support. However, it has been discovered that in some orders, there were some details missing, and further investigation revealed that Martin had been stealing from them, skimming money on the side to pay for his lifestyle.

This had been his last mistake.

* * *

Now Mercury, on the other hand, didn't stalk his target like his comrade Emerald did. Instead he just wasted time on his own for a bit, seeing the opportunity to have some fun before having to go back to meet with her at the time that they both agreed to rendezvous. He went to random shops, looked around for a bit, maybe beat up some random people that would pass by when he was bored. Today was different, as it was the last day to kill his target. He already knew where the man was, his target, Oliver Brunn never changed locations. Brunn was a mercenary fixer and a broker of information; a man who would find work for the hired guns he knew, as well as to learn information about various groups and their activities, and then sell it. He didn't make money by being find.

For a while, he had been selling information to Cinder's comrades, as well as farming out work from them in exchange for a finder's fee, but then he stumbled upon information that had gotten him curious about Cinder, Mercury and Emerald. Too curious, in fact, for his own good. He made his way to the shady part of town, stopping by a small grey building with a staircase that led down to the building's cellar and he stepped inside.

* * *

For a moment, at the beginning, Emerald had thought that Martin would at least be hard to track, that he would at hide his activities well, but the illusions of grandeur that was a side effect of the draxx had left him feeling invulnerable and dulled his sense of caution. Roman didn't want to confront him personally, fearing that if Martin knew that his life was in danger, that he would run straight to the authorities; so instead, he requested that they let Martin continue with his little games, and take him out when he least expected it, so as not to arouse any suspicions.

This left Martin believing that he was getting away with stealing from them. Emerald then concluded that this was all that she needed for this investigation, and she went into the club after him. The club was trashy, it was generally not well kept and there were scummy people everywhere, men and women alike, although the club did seem to be quieter than usual today. Which was good for Emerald, as it meant fewer witnesses, however, she knew it would be best to take him somewhere secluded in order to finish him off; and she knew precisely how to do that.

She approached him slowly, his back was to her and he didn't notice her at first as she sat down a couple seats down the bar to his right. He seemed a little bored as Emerald began to examine him, and why wouldn't he be bored? The club was quiet, which meant no action for him tonight. As Martin began to scan his surroundings again, his gaze then passed over Emerald, who felt that he was looking at her, but didn't turn to face him. Instead, she waited for him to make the first move; with a grin, he took a swig from his drink, then pressed a glowing purple ampule to the inside of his wrist and injected himself with a hefty dose of draxx, which among other things, was an aphrodisiac. He then approached her with a slight wobble in his step.

"Hey little lady, haven't seen you here before," Martin said as he placed an elbow on the bar next to her in an attempt to look suave, but also to brace himself so that he wouldn't fall over.

"Nope, first time here in such a big city," Emerald responded with reservation which Martin mistook as her being shy, when it was really just her feeling annoyed.

"You look too young to be in a place like this," he slurred.

"I'm eighteen. Just don't tell the bartender," she said coyly.

"Music to my ears. Well, since you're new to Mistral, I can show you the sights if you want; you won't regret it," Martin continued, and Emerald responded by flashing a fake smile at him.

* * *

"Kid, what are you doing here?" Brunn asked nervously as he saw Mercury come into his place, while Mercury stopped in front of the door with his arms crossed in front of him as he stared at Brunn. "You realize how risky it is to be seen with my clients? I'm meeting with a group of mercenaries in less than an hour!"

"You do good work, Brunn, really, sometimes I think you do your job too well," Mercury replied, ignoring what Brunn had said and he stalked forward towards him.

"Kid, if you wanted to compliment me, fine, but don't come here." With the wave of his hand, Brunn motioned his bodyguard to deal with Mercury, even though he worked for his clients, and valued them, his security and identity was far more important.

"Oooh, scary," Mercury remarked as he eyed the bodyguard from head to toe. He looked pretty dumb, but his size was nothing to mess with, at least, not something to mess with if you were weak, but Mercury was not weak. Just as the bodyguard reached out to grab him, Mercury snagged his wrist and twisted his arm in an awkward angle; the bones in his arm could be heard breaking, as Mercury added more pressure to it, before finally finishing him by sweeping his foot underneath the bodyguard and kicking him up again to prop him in the air, and finally, bringing his foot back down onto his chest. His ribs and sternum broke and punctured his heart. Brunn looked on in horror as Mercury killed his bodyguard without working up a sweat, then Mercury fixed the cuffs on his sleeves as if nothing had happened.

"You dug too deep, Brunn. Cinder can't have you potentially selling information about us to our enemies," Mercury said, before he charged at Brunn.

* * *

Emerald was always told to use any means necessary to complete her objectives, unless it jeopardized the plan in any way. "Any means" being the key phrase, although she never went too far in order to kill her targets. She found it best to make herself feel as unthreatening as possible, to make her targets drop their guard, and there were even times that she would befriend her victims before killing them, but that required time, and time was not something she had in abundance tonight. She instead had to play along just long enough for him to lower his defenses. Martin had brought her back to his place, and she could tell by the grin on his face that he felt that he was going to get lucky, as evidenced by the passionate kissing that ensued once they had gotten into the back of the cab on the way back to Rouge's apartment.

Despite his intentions and expectations, "lucky" was not the word she would have chosen in this case, for either of them. She scanned the room around her, and it was just as bad as the club, which made her further realize how much of a sleaze Martin really was. With the money he had been skimming from his clients, he could have lived a truly affluent lifestyle, but all his money had been disappearing into his wrist and up his arm. She then heard the door behind her click as it closed and he locked the door as he closed it.

"Here we are, baby," he sloshed through his drunken stupor and stepped towards her to try and grab her, but she dodged out of the way just as he was about to touch her. She felt nothing but disgust for this man, how he could be stupid enough to think that a woman as fit and beautiful as she was would be so easy, and then her mind reverted back to what her objective was. To what she, Cinder, Ash, and Mercury were fighting for.

"What'sh wrong missh?" he asked.

"It's- it's nothing. I just like to play around a little," she said, and at that moment she took him by surprise as she grabbed his hand and placed it between her deeply tanned breasts.

"You feel that? That heat?" She asked, with a fake smile to further lure him in and to lull him into a false sense of security. He gave off a smile and nodded his head in silent reply. "There are some who say that there is a fire burning in all of us."

Martin knew this sounded familiar, like he had heard the phrase somewhere before, but he couldn't quite figure it out where, however, he banished the thought as he continued to stare at Emerald and began to flex his fingers over her supple skin. Emerald then chuckled slightly, leaning forward and kissed him softly on the lips before brushing her own across his cheek and to his ear, which she licked at playfully and whispered:

"And Cinder and Ash say that it's time for your fire to be snuffed out," she concluded, and at that moment Martin realized where he had heard this phrase before. His eyes widened in horror upon mention of those two names but his facial expression froze as Emerald plunged a knife into the base of his skull. His eyes begged her silently as his body slid to the floor, and Emerald watched in revulsion as his eyes finally rolled back into his head, his face forever frozen in terror at the moment of his death.

* * *

Brunn was middle aged, but he was not a pushover; he had prior experience in the military, specifically in the intelligence division, which explained how he was able to get information so easily, either from his experience, or the contacts that he still communicated with. He pulled out a serrated knife and tried to swipe at Mercury, who casually stepped out of the way, and then yawned when he was in the clear.

"Are you sure you left the military? Seems like you were kicked out for being such a failure," Mercury said as he tried to taunt Martin, which worked as Martin yelled out and tried to slash at him again; this time, Mercury backed away and kicked his wrist out of the way, then spun to his right to gain momentum and kicked his heel into the floor, his toe pointed at Brunn, which triggered a Dust gun embedded into his metal boots. A white blast of dust fired from the toe of the boot, but the shot went wide, missing Brunn entirely and blasting a hole in the ceiling that showered both of them with plaster and lathing. Brunn had ducked out of the way and landed on a table; Mercury felt that he should have finished it with that blast, and could have fired again, sure to hit a stationary target this time, but he was bored lately, and he wanted to see how far he could go with this fight.

He waited with his hands on his hips as he watched Brunn get up from off the table as he wiped some blood from his mouth. He spat on the floor and suddenly lunged out again, but was surprised when Mercury had dropped down and spun on his hands before he kicked Brunn once more; this time the force of the kick launched him in the air and Brunn fell onto his back. His age had finally gotten the best of him, and as he struggled to get off the floor, Mercury then stomped down onto his neck; keeping him pinned to the floor. As Brunn looked up at Mercury, he was choking and gagging as he tried to swallow as much air as he could, but still held a defiant look. Mercury was a little amused by this, but noticed the time on the clock on the wall and he realized he had to make this quick.

He began to add pressure the Brunn's neck, and a sickening crunch could be heard as he slowly began to crush his windpipe, which made Brunn start to clutch at his ankle. Before long, Mercury then twisted his foot, and a snap could be heard as he broke Brunn's neck. Mercury took a deep breath, realizing that this was the fun that he had been looking for, and he turned to walk out the door; leaving Brunn's body lying awkwardly on the floor, and his neck at an unnatural angle.

* * *

Emerald waited silently in the alleyway for her comrade, still feeling dirty for what she had to do to get Martin in a secluded place, although she didn't really regret killing him, only kissing him; she wiped her lips again in disgust, the smell of alcohol and the copper taste of a draxx addict's saliva still on her breath. Then Emerald saw Mercury at the end of the alleyway; he approached, then stopped right in front of her. They looked at each other for a few long moments, scanning each other's facial features before Mercury pulled out the notebook, and crossed out the two names from off the page.

"So, have you been able to check out the rest of that book?" Emerald asked, as they walked out the alleyway and into the streets of Mistral.

"Yeah, most of which has been crossed out. That man has been doing some work," Mercury responded.

"'That man' creeps me out," Emerald said, wincing at the thought of his greasy hair and sooty, slovenly appearance.

"Really? I like him, he has the right amount of crazy," Mercury remarked as he continued to scan through the first few pages of the notebook, names crossed off, which made him assume that these were targets or locations of interest that had been dealt with already.

* * *

Every step he took, a little squish could be heard as he stepped into a puddle of blood, blood which belonged to the many guards that had watched over the building that he had just entered. As usual, he walked with a grin on his face, as Ash reveled in the carnage that he had left in his wake; that wasn't the only reason that he was smiling, however. No, for he was hunting a very special target tonight, a target which made him feel alive again, and made him remember that the last time he felt this way was when he killed Snyegh.

However, he felt a sense of calm swell in him when he thought of that name, and for a moment he began to hum as he continued to walk down the blood-soaked floor in search of his target. His most dangerous game. However, the tune that he was humming could only be described as dreamlike. And it was one that Haiiden would have easily recognized.

( _ **AN: Not much is known about Emerald, other than that she is an assassin for Cinder, but is also a "master thief", as Mercury calls her. I decided to express some creative freedom and have her be a "Black Widow" type of assassin.**_


	19. Vol 2: Chapter 2

Jaune got back up and stood ready once more; his breath began to become heavy and ragged as the fatigue began to set in. His muscles ached from the lack of oxygen, but he knew that he had to push himself to get better, not only for his team, but also to prove something to himself. After Jaune had stood up to Cardin in order to protect Pyrrha, on whom Cardin had planned to pull a "prank", Jaune decided to accept Pyrrha's offer to help train him.

Pyrrha, his secret sparring partner, glared at him straight in the eye with her mind set on the fight; she never went easy on anyone, especially him. She always fought to test herself to the fullest extent of her abilities, as well as to test her opponents, and Jaune was no different than any other opponent that she had faced before; but she prepared herself nonetheless in case he got lucky. She bent down to make herself a smaller target, her shield raised and her spear arm back in order to quickly counter.

Jaune's feet shuffled as he debated when to charge at his opponent; finally he kicked himself forward and charged at Pyrrha. However, Pyrrha noticed his moment of hesitation, used that to guess when he was going to attack, and moved out of the way just as he stepped forward.

Pyrrha was just about to counter, however, as Jaune began to feel desperate to get at least one hit in before the night ended. He quickly swing his arm back to try and strike at Pyrrha; coupled with the fact that he broadcast his movements, he took too long to wind his arm back, and she was able to dodge his attack again with ease.

Pyrrha rolled just underneath his arm mid-swing, and swept her leg behind his, which made him fall to the ground. Jaune then used a little trick that he had picked up from Pyrrha and landed on his shield, before rolling back up. However, Pyrrha was relentless in her attack, and rushed forward and was already within arm's reach just as he got back up. With a backhanded motion, she swung her shield at Jaune and hit him in the temple.

Jaune reeled to the left, and instinctively raised his sword arm up in case she followed up on her attack, which she did, as he felt something connect with his sword, much to Pyrrha's surprise.

As sword and spear ground against each other, he pushed his sword down, which left a momentary opening in Pyrrha's defenses; her eyes widened as she quickly realized this, a lot faster than Jaune did, and she hopped backwards to gain some distance. She smiled for just a moment; for the first time in one of her sparring matches with Jaune, she felt an adrenaline rush that she had felt with so many other opponents before.

However, this was a little different, and she couldn't quite figure it out, but she banished the thought and her mind reverted back to the fight. She got down low again, as she anticipated another attack, at which point, Jaune swung with a backhand motion with his sword but missed Pyrrha by more than half a foot as she simply backed away.

Then she noticed something again, his footwork was improving, as he always kept a foot back with each swing, ready to fall back in case he needed to back away or abandon a strike in an instant. She noticed that with each swing, he advanced onto Pyrrha and how he took a half step back after each swing. The adrenaline rush then swelled into pride within her, for after such a short time it was noticeable that he was improving, but it still wasn't enough.

With ease, she managed to dodge each strike with the help of her Semblance, which was polarity, the ability to control metal through magnetism. With sleight of hand, she waved her spear arm a little to influence the movement of Jaune's sword by an inch; which gave her enough clearance to seemingly dodge quickly.

After another swing, she noticed that the fatigue had begun to set in, as the tip of his sword struck the ground, and he heaved to bring his sword up again. At that moment, she grabbed him by the wrist and twisted his arm. He yelped slightly, as the pain shot through his limb, but was then replaced with a confused whimper as he realized that he was in the air now.

Pyrrha had kicked him behind the legs with a swift, and fluid motion, she continued to flip him in the air, and grabbed him by the scruff of his hoodie with her shield arm. The indentations on her shield encircled his neck and she slammed his body onto the roof, and he landed with a loud groan.

"Ow," moaned Jaune, as he tried to get up, but instead writhed on the ground as moving only added more to the discomfort. He wasn't in any real pain, but was left sore after the long night of sparring. Pyrrha gave Jaune a soft smile and bent down to offer a hand to help him up.

"You are doing better Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, as she genuinely felt that he was a new man under her strict tutelage.

"I was still unable to land a hit on you," Jaune groaned as Pyrrha lifted him off the ground, his footing a little shaky as he tried to correct his posture before finally standing still. He recalled his shield back into its basic form, as it folded into a sheath, and placed it on his hip then inserted his sword.

"But your footwork has definitely improved!" She continued, the smile on her face widening upon thinking about his progress, and how he finally began to utilize what she had taught him, and made it a part of him. Rather than thinking about his movements, they now became a subconscious part of his mind; allowing him use them without thinking about it. She then likewise returned her spear and shield back to its resting place, placing her spear, which could also be reconfigured into a sniper rifle, in a sheath she kept on her back, and her hoplon shield over it.

They both made their way to the door that led back into the dormitory; however, they didn't go through it. Instead, they both stopped just short of the opening, and Pyrrha knelt down to pick up a jug of water as she poured a cup for Jaune, but he politely waved his hand and picked up his own cup, and drank from it. His throat was dry after the long exercise, and the water felt like a smooth elixir that seemed to give him renewed life as it went down his throat.

Jaune leaned back on the wall and slowly slid down until he instead sat on the roof of the dormitory's south wing, which was two stories shorter than the rest of the building, allowing them to spar on the flat roof above. She cupped both hands around her cup and she carefully took a sip from it as well before joining him.

"We are a team, Jaune; we need to help each other," she replied, and they both shared a moment of silence as they both looked down onto the lights of the Kingdom of Vale. It was dark, but lights still littered the skyline of the Kingdom, mostly streetlights as most of the Kingdom's residents were already asleep.

"But I know that as a leader, I should already be good enough for you guys," Jaune finally said, unlike Pyrrha, he wasn't enjoying the sight, but rather he was lost in silent contemplation.

"You have really improved, Jaune!" Pyrrha replied in an attempt to reassure her friend, her leader, but then her facial expression changed to a more somber one. "You have room for improvement, but to be honest, I am a little jealous."

Upon hearing this, Jaune looked over to her with a raised brow and saw that she was looking down at her cup. He was speechless by this revelation and his mouth dropped open, as he didn't know what to say.

"But why would you be jealous of me, of all people, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"I am 'the invincible girl', Jaune, everyone expects a lot from me; but with you, you don't have that kind of pressure," she elaborated.

"Oh, yeah I forget that you are famous sometimes," Jaune said with a slight chuckle. "Yeah, I know, I am a nobody when it really comes down to it."

"No! Jaune! That's not what I meant," Pyrrha immediately jumped in upon realizing how he had taken her statement. Her cheeks turned red with embarrassment and her eyes darted back and forth as she thought on how to make up for what she said.

"Relax, Pyrrha," said Jaune again, "I know what you are talking about."

"You do?" she asked, as she genuinely wondered if he really did understand.

"You are 'the invincible girl'; when they hear your name, they expect you to be the winner every time," Jaune continued. "For me, the most they expect is for me to lose a sparring match, or at best to kill a single Grimm, like the way I beheaded that giant Ursa when I saved Cardin."

Pyrrha decided to just keep quiet from here, she knew what it took for him to get here. To forge transcripts and having to lie to people about who he really was, in a way, the pressure on him was more than she could understand.

"So how are you doing in your classes?" Jaune asked and this forced Pyrrha out of her own little world.

"Oh, I'm doing well," Pyrrha responded, with a quick nod of her head.

"Have you asked the instructors to take a look at the grades you have so far?" Jaune asked again.

"I'm confident that I am doing well," Pyrrha replied again. "I do take my studies seriously, Jaune; you would do well to do the same."

"Hey now, at least I'm passing," said a defensive Jaune as he turned away to scratch the back of his head. "All I have to do is pass my finals and I'll have done well for the first semester."

Pyrrha watched this reaction with a hint of amusement before looking out again onto the expanse of the Kingdom; deciding that it was probably time to head back to their dorm for the night.

"Come on, Jaune," she said as she heaved herself up from her seat; the exercise and the time of night had left her tired. Jaune nodded and finished his cup of water, and grabbed the pitcher before getting up with her. He then nodded to her to signal that he was ready and he was the first to enter through the door. However, right as Pyrrha was about to come through, Jaune stopped for a moment and he turned to face her.

"Pyrrha, I just want to say thank you," he said to her, which made her stop where she was and she looked at him with a quizzical expression.

"'Thanks?' For what, Jaune?" She asked.

"For your help in training me," he replied to her and he looked down for a moment, as if he was collecting his thoughts so as to best convey what he felt. "You have always believed in me when others have doubted me, and I really appreciate your help."

Pyrrha then felt a wave of heat flush into her cheeks and she immediately turned away; in her mind she cursed herself for not being able to control her emotions and she turned away as her cheeks began to turn red. Silently, she was thankful for the darkness; there was no chance that Jaune could see her blush.

"Well, that's all I wanted to say," he said before turning to walk away. Upon hearing that this was all he wanted to convey, Pyrrha felt a sense of relief, as he hadn't noticed her in such a vulnerable state. For a moment, she felt a hint of confusion as to why she would feel this way, but then decided not to dwell on it so as not to draw his attention, before finally picking up the pace so as to walk beside him.

* * *

"You know what to do, right?" Emerald asked with a a playful smile as they both approached the gates to Haven Academy in Mistral. Just like the rest of the Kingdom, Haven reflected the nation's culture and the architecture made the academy look like a giant castle.

"Of course, Princess," Mercury said with a smile as he made a passing joke at the Academy's architectural design, while Emerald rolled her eyes before shaking her head at him.

"Whatever, just get us into the system, then we finally can head over to Vale to meet with Cinder in a few weeks," Emerald replied and walked away, all the while she read from the notebook that Ash had given to them, which made her appear like any other student.

" _Security is rather lax,"_ he thought as approached the doors to Haven with an air of confidence and tried to appear to be an ordinary student. Just for fun, he would wave to the other students, flashing a smile for a moment but it would quickly disappear once he left from view. Not even the instructors at the Academy, those who should know that he wasn't really a student, took the time to stop him. Then again, there were many students attending the Academy, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the instructors couldn't remember them all; this provided the perfect cover for him and Emerald.

He stopped in the middle of the corridor and leaned back against the wall; all the while, whistling to himself as he pulled the sides of his Scroll apart, turning it into a data tablet, and looked down at it. Before he had killed Brunn, Mercury had gotten him to retrieve the schematics to both Haven and Beacon, which made it easier to locate his target for this mission. He realized he was in the correct wing as he studied his position on the map.

He scanned the schematics a while longer, trying to make a mental plan for what path he should take to get where he needed to be. Once he had gone over the plan in his mind, he pushed the sides of his Scroll back together and put it away, then resumed his whistling as he continued down the corridors.

After a couple of turns, and a few flights of stairs later, he stepped in front of the door to the data center. This part of the school was restricted, and he already had had to knock out a couple of witnesses to get here. The thought of killing them passed through his mind, but they were not his targets, and he would rather not leave any clues to his whereabouts.

He leaned down to pick the lock, and after he had broken through, he stepped into a cramped room with computer towers all standing slightly taller than he was, and all in rows of eight. This was the room he was looking for, a central hub for all of Haven's systems, which gave him access to everything. He could have hacked from any other computer, but by hacking the data center, he couldn't be tracked as he broke through.

He slowly stepped into the room, looking at each computer as it blinked with different colored lights; all of them indicating some different status or system activity. He had forgotten which one he was supposed to utilize, especially since there was a specific one that he had to hack to get into their systems quickly.

However, they all looked the same to him, and he remembered that he might have dozed off when Emerald was explaining this bit to him; afterwards he just shrugged and pulled out his Scroll again, then pulled out the cord at the bottom of it and jacked it into a random computer. Immediately, files began streaming across the screen of his Scroll, too many for it to handle, and he just began to swipe at each folder that showed up, clearing away the ones he didn't need.

Instructor profiles, psych profiles, curricula, grades, and he swiped past every single one, letting out a bored sigh as he continued to skip past the many different files until finally he came across the one he wanted: Student Rosters.

He thought that he should have been relieved at this find, but he had spent so much time sifting through all the other garbage files that he just wanted to get this over with. He opened up a separate file that was already on his Scroll, and inside were his and Emerald's profile, made to look like the many students attending the school. Inside was also Cinder's and Neo's, as per Cinder's request.

Once the files had been transferred, he closed the file and instead opened a separate program on his Scroll; on it were the lists of Haven's students. He did a quick search of his own name, as well as Cinder's, Neo's, and Emerald's to make sure that they had transferred correctly. A grin fell on his face upon seeing that the four of them were now "students" at Haven, however, there were still two last things he needed.

* * *

After a long day of studying and lectures at Haven, Team SSSN were enjoying a much needed break at one of Mistral's many outdoor restaurants. Their team leader, Sun Wukong, a monkey-Faunus, was treating himself to just a simple banana while the rest of his team, which was comprised of Scarlet David, Sage Ayana, and Neptune Vasilias, were enjoying various treats. Their laughter often disturbed the other patrons at the restaurant, while they laughed about their day and talked about the sparring matches at Haven academy.

"I don't know man, Arslan is pretty killer with her martial arts," Sun commented, while also referencing a member of one of the other teams in Haven academy: ABRN.

"Still, I am worried that one of these days she's going to tear something," Scarlet said with a slight whimper in his voice as he fixed the bangs in his hair that hung over his right eye, while also he also fixed the scarf over his neck.

"I'm more worried about the fact that you needed to use your Semblance to beat her," Neptune added with a smile as he took a sip of his drink; setting it down afterwards next to a saucer with a bagel on it. "For two reasons."

Neptune then took a deep breath and repositioned himself in his seat, while Sun shook his head and turned away; a grin fell on his face as he waited for Neptune to finish.

"First, you can't rely on it too much. You need to be able to fight without it, and secondly, we need to be strategic for the tournament, so we can't let everyone see you use it, especially during joint training! We need this tactical advantage if we are going to win the tournament."

"'Tactical advantage'. Nerd," Sun commented with a chuckle as he finished the last bit of his banana, and Sage also chuckled to himself lightly.

"Hey. 'Intellectual _'_." the smile on Neptune's face disappeared as he corrected his friend, however, the right corner of his mouth rose just a bit higher as he began to grin.

"So, when will we go to Vale?" Sage asked.

"We're caught up on our homework, so we can technically leave in a couple of weeks if we want," Sage suggested.

"Ugh, speaking homework, it sucks that we will have to attend Beacon's classes as well," Sun commented.

"I heard that things there are pretty strict, and their students are some of the best fighters around," Scarlet commented as well as he marveled at the idea.

"Good! Maybe that will rub off on a certain someone," Neptune added as he made a passing reference to a very specific friend, while Sun ignored the comment.

"Okay!" Sun clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he took a quick glance to each of his teammates. "Travel itinerary; how will we get to Vale? Maybe we can take a calming ride on a ship?

"Woah!" Neptune yelled as he straightened himself in his seat while wearing a nervous grin. "A ship? You mean there will be water?"

"Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be such a good idea, then," Sun leaned back with a grin, having deliberately teased Neptune for his comment, and began to think again. Scarlet looked over at Neptune for a bit, amused at his fear of water but once he realized that Neptune had caught his gaze, he immediately shifted his eyes away and scratched the back of his head.

"Besides," Sage joined in again, and everyone turned their attention towards him. "It would take weeks to get there by sea, and we would have a lot of backlogged homework that we missed."

"I guess all that is left is an airship, then?" Neptune eagerly suggested with his face expressing relief.

"I guess so," Sun replied and stood up as he looked at a clock inside the shop and noticed that it was getting late. "Well, let's go back to the dorm. We can discuss travel a little more over there. If we're taking an airship, we've still got a nearly a month before we have to leave for Vale."

* * *

Mercury began to swipe faster and faster through the school's files on his Scroll, as he continued to look for the list of the exchange students that would be going to Vale for the Vytal Festival Tournament. He kept the profiles of his team on hand, so he could easily sneak them in when he finally found the file that he needed; as he searched, he started to recount the two other things that he needed before he was ready to leave: first, some of the school's uniforms.

From photos that he had seen, as well as the students he had observed on campus, they wore black jackets with a white arm band while the leggings differed from men to women, with men wearing black trousers, and the women wearing skirts of black and grey tartan. Maybe he could just ask the school's quartermaster for sets for himself, as well as his team.

Lastly, some passports, that one however, would be the trickiest part, but he decided he would deal with it when he came to it. He needed not just any passports, but ones specifically from the exchange students to Vale, because they would have the required visas. Then it would just me a matter of changing the photographs and identifying data; a little creative forgery, and they would be set.

Finally, he came to the folder that he was searching for; a folder filled with the names of the contestants who would be going to Vale to attend the Vytal Festival Tournament as fighters. With a swipe of his finger, he copied the profiles and placed them into the folder which pretty much solidified their positions; not only would they have a clearing into Vale, but for fun, they could cause as much chaos as possible from within by being participants.

However, he had spent too much time in the school's server room, and he knew that he had to leave before someone stumbled upon him, and he would have to kill them; not only would that be against Cinder's orders, although she wouldn't care for a single dead person, but it would potentially blow their cover and alert the school to the fact that their systems had been breached.

As he was about to cut the connection from the server, he stopped for a moment as he continued to look through the other list of contestants. The rosters were huge, something that would make the tournament one of the best for many years to come; however, some of the contestants seemed to be skilled fighters and realized that getting rid of some of them right now by outright deleting them wouldn't work, as they would just be added back onto the list.

Instead, he reasoned that he might eliminate some of them when he stole their passports. It would take a while for them to be replaced, and they would possibly miss the window for admission by the time they were replaced and their visas re-issued. He noticed a few likely targets, and he cut the connection and swiftly left the server room without leaving any trace that would arouse suspicion that anyone had been there.

As he moved down the western corridor, Mercury scanned each plaque on the doors as he passed by; he gradually got closer and closer to the one he needed before his mission was complete. The uniforms were easy, and he already carried what he needed in a plastic bag; he had explained to the quartermaster that his and his team's uniforms had been scorched in sparring practice, and that was literally all it took.

Then, his attention immediately snapped to as he came upon the room he was looking for: 21W; he quickly scanned around the hallway to make sure that no one was watching before he bent forward and began to pick the lock. A satisfying "click" was heard upon success, and he slowly opened the door to peer inside and saw that no one was in the dorm.

" _Ok, time to find the Box_ ," Mercury thought, as he began to scan the room. Back during his youth, when he often broke into people's houses for fun and profit, Mercury had come to know that people always seemed to have "a Box", something into which they would stash anything important, things they wouldn't normally keep on themselves at all times, whether it be valuables, such as jewelry, pictures or mementos, or important papers such as passports.

A lot could be told about a person by their Box and its contents. Time was of the essence, but he also had to be meticulous; making a mess would leave evidence that someone had been there, and this further frustrated him. He began to scan the room; the only things that he displaced were the contents of shelves and maybe some books, but he couldn't find anything. His target was originally from Vacuo, and he knew that meant he was probably poor, and his Box would probably reflect that. Finally, he noticed a package on one of the night stands, and upon closer inspection, he realized that it wasn't a package, but a crudely made oval box with floral contact paper wrapped around it.

This was the Box of a poor person, to be sure, possibly handed down to its owner by a woman, possibly his target's mother, from the looks of it. It would ordinarily belong to a woman, but there were only men in this dorm, so his supposition was very likely.

As he went to pick up the box, he felt its weight and its texture through the contact paper, and concluded that it was made of cardboard and it had no lock on it, typical for a piece of trash. He slowly removed the lid to it, only to see just some worthless trinkets, letters, and personal photos inside of it, as well as crude necklaces and pendants, but then noticed something at the bottom of the box.

As he moved all the crap to the side, he saw what he was looking for: a Vacuo passport, and not just any passport, but one belonging to one of the people he had chosen to remove from the tournament. He opened the passport, and inside was a Vale visa, he read the name in his mind: "Sun Wukong".

* * *

Sun walked down the corridor to his dorm, his team had gone ahead without him, as he wanted to quickly nab a can of soda from a nearby kiosk. He was used to stealing back in his home Kingdom of Vacuo, as it was the poorest of the Kingdoms. His family did try their best to support him, but the fact that he had to steal often, and got into fights made him pretty infamous in their town; however, his lifestyle did add to his skill set, and it made him a formidable fighter, so in order to avoid him getting into trouble, his parents managed to gain admittance for him into Haven Academy in Mistral; moving here seemed strange at first. Mistral was clearly a lot wealthier than Vacuo, and people were more shirt and collar kind of people; not something that he would be into, even if he could afford it.

As he downed the last of his soda, he heard someone behind him, and he turned to see who or what it was, only to suddenly be bumped into. When he regained his footing, and after fixing his sleeve, he turned to apologize, only to see that a grey-haired student had completely ignored him and kept walking. Sun felt that he should have been offended, but simply shrugged and threw away the can in a nearby trash bin before returning to his dorm.

As he entered it, he noticed that his team was not there; either they had stopped somewhere, or they went to hang out with the other students over at Haven. With a smile, he let out a yawn, and jumped onto his bed while placing his hands behind his head while staring at the ceiling. He eyes began to feel heavy, but he wanted to wait for his team to arrive so he got up again and stretched to let himself feel a little loose.

But from the corner of his eye, he noticed that his Box had moved, that it wasn't in the spot where he left it before going out with his team. He slid his feet from off his bed, and let them hang from the side and reached for the Box to pick it up. It felt the same, its weight didn't seem altered so he didn't think much of it, but then a feeling of homesickness came over him, and with a smile he opened the Box and one by one he pulled out each item.

First was a crudely made necklace, just made out of string that was woven together; he stared at it for a few moments as warm thoughts filled his mind which forced him to smile. Then he pulled out another necklace, this one with a pendant that was carved out of wood. As he continued to pull out each item, he was finally able to see the bottom and that's when he realized that something was definitely off.

He dumped the contents of the box onto his bed and frantically pushed everything aside as he tried to find his passport. It had cost a lot of money for his family, and it allowed him to go between Mistral, Vacuo, and just recently, Vale. He covered his mouth as he thought about what this meant, by not having his passport, he would have no way into Vale, and he and his team would have to back out of the tournament. He got out of bed and turned it over, desperate to find it quickly before his team returned and he would have to reveal that his passport was missing.

He silently cursed himself as he placed his hand over his mouth again and gritted his teeth angrily; he put his hands behind his head as he thought about how to fix this. He could order a new one, but getting one from Vacuo and getting his visa renewed could take months, and cost hundreds of Izziks to get a replacement, then another fifty for the visa, and then he would miss the window to get to Vale in any event.

However, that wasn't the main issue, as he simply didn't have the money to replace it. He crossed his legs, and took deep breaths as he began to think to himself, mulling over the different options as to how to fix this. Then his head shot up, and he quickly got out of bed as he went over to their desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and began to write:

 **Passport stolen; going to Vale ASAP.  
See you there**. **-Sun**  
 **PS: Can you pack one of my uniforms for me?**

He left the paper on top of the desk, and groaned at the thought of all the backlogged homework he would have by the time he made it to Vale; he quickly left the dorm, but not before locking it before as he left. He made his way down the hallways, almost running into fellow students along the way, who would give a second glance as they wondered why he was in such a hurry. Once he made his way out of the school, he jumped down the flight of stairs of the main entrance and used his Faunus ability to land safely at the bottom as he made his way out of the Academy grounds.

With a grin, he hurried to Mistral's docks, and began to scout for a ship that would best suit him; he spotted a cargo transport ship that was just loading a new shipment of produce and hoped that it would be going to Vale, however, he had to be sure. He approached one of the workers, who glanced back at him with a hint of disdain as he eyed the monkey-Faunus from top to bottom.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Sun asked with a smile, as he offered a friendly wave.

"What do you want, kid?" the man responded with a hint of disgust in his voice, he held a clipboard in his hand,clicked his pen, and put his hands onto his hips.

"I was just wondering if you guys needed an extra hand on board. I need to get to Vale, and I can work in exchange for a ride over there," Sun said with a smile, however the man laughed and gritted his teeth.

"We _are_ headin' to Vale, but I don't need no damn dirty ape aboard my ship, besides, you would probably hide away and be lazy anyway," the man responded with a gruff voice.

"First off, I'm a monkey-Faunus; there is a big difference between that and an ape," Sun replied with a grin, which made the man freeze and he kept his gaze on Sun. "Secondly, I'm not as lazy as I look."

"Beat it! I'm not letting you or any Faunus on my ship!" The man yelled out and turned his back on Sun, which signaled that the conversation was over. Sun shook his head and raised his hands over his head and let out an exasperated sigh; his hands then slapped against his thighs once he brought them down and he began to wonder again about how to get to Vale.

He couldn't go back to his dorm, by now his team would have gotten back and seen the note. He turned around and began to look around for another ship that would trade passage for work, when he noticed that most of the ships had already left, he let out a groan and sat on the balls of his heels as looked around the docks once more; scanning the berths for anything of interest, until his gaze was set on a barrel that was next to the crates that were being loaded onto the ship.

Then, Sun had another idea; his gaze switched over to the man again and noticed that he was not looking in his direction. When he thought the coast was clear, Sun quietly ran towards the plastic barrel and opened it to peer inside. The smell that emanated from it was horrid, the smell of urine, feces, and blue Anotec, and that's when he realized that it was the honeydipper barrel, the barrel they used to clean the septic tanks and chemical toilets on the ship. A wave of disgust washed over as he began to think of what he had to do, and almost felt ashamed of it; with slight reservation, he climbed inside.

He waited patiently, but also hoped that no one would open the lid by some random chance, but suddenly the barrel began to rock when the crew picked it up. While it rocked, he held his breath in the hopes that he wouldn't be spotted, and feared that they would realize he was inside if he as much as breathed. His lungs ached, but he was grateful for the reprieve from the smell.

However, once he realized the situation he was in, a grin fell on his face.

" _Monkey in a barrel_ ," Sun thought, finding the situation a bit amusing, as well as realizing the irony. " _How clichéd_."

* * *

Haiiden spun his pen in his hand as he listened to Professor Port's lecture while resting his palm on his cheek. It was the same lecture as usual: just Professor Port boasting about his many missions with his head held high, and of the many exploits in his life which he would mix with the lectures he _should_ be teaching. Out of curiosity, he began to look around at his other classmates, first to his team, who all groaned to themselves as they trudged through the class; Zed napped next to Haiiden, while Cecilia sat with her hands over her face, however, her twin brother, Vaughn, was the only one who was listening to the lecture with any intensity.

"Vacuo then called upon me to deal with a rogue Goliath that had broken off from its herd and was devastating settlements along the border of the desert," Professor Port continued, and some of the students then began to raise their heads at the mention of Goliaths. Huge, elephant-like Grimm with giant curved tusks that usually traveled in groups, Goliaths were extremely difficult to kill. Their thick skin, as well as the bone-like masks were excellent defenses that made the thought of fighting these monstrosities scary. Instead of a chalkboard, Professor Port had pencil sketches of the various different Grimm he had encountered in his lifetime; Professor Port then pointed to a pencil sketch of a Goliath behind him, and he waved his hand to direct the class's attention to it.

"I would have brought a live specimen, had I been able to take it alive, but a mature Goliath would be larger than this very room, at roughly seventy to eighty feet in height, and over a hundred feet long," Professor Port continued. "As you all well know, my fame didn't come from my amazing ability to fight, but because I was the first to capture live Grimm."

At this mention, Byeli hopped in her seat happily at the mention of Port capturing Grimm, especially since it was with his help that they were able to bring Grimm into Mistral for her shows.

A smile grew on Haiiden's face when Professor Port, again, had to mention what it was he was most famous for; he always felt the need to show off his accomplishments and to let people know who he was. At first glance, some would think he had an over-inflated opinion of himself, as he always had his head held high and even had a large gold bust of himself next to his impeccable desk, as well as his rather large blunderbuss that he hung over the sketches. Although his demeanor was annoying, most were forced to admit that his fame was well earned, as his own field research on the Grimm helped in fighting them.

"But that is beside the point! As we are talking about my latest exploit in Vacuo," Port continued. "Remember children, as a skilled Huntsman, even I am wary of these beasts. Goliaths are not to be trifled with, their naturally thick skin and bone masks offer a great defense. However! As I have learned from my time in the desert, they do have a single and critical weakness!"

The professor then pointed to his sketch of a Goliath, his finger pressed against the mask of the Grimm, which confused some of the students. Even Haiiden was left wondering as to why the mask would the weak point, and watched as Port then traced his finger along the red line that ran down the top of the Grimm's mask and ended between the eyes.

"Right there!" Port exclaimed as he stopped at the tip of the red line and tapped on it to further emphasize his point. "This is the Goliath's weakness! It's the thinnest part of the mask and with a well-placed shot, it could bring down this seemingly unkillable creature."

" _Seemingly_ ," Haiiden thought, the word seemed strange, especially coming out of Port, as he should know how dangerous these Grimm really were. Sure, if you were to shoot, you would _probably_ kill it, but taking the time to aim was another matter entirely; it could be just Port's usual, egomaniacal self that was speaking. He genuinely cared about his students, and he wouldn't intentionally fool them to make them think that the Grimm weren't all dangerous.

"Oi, mate," Haiiden heard Zed whisper next to him, and he turned to see that his friend had awoken but still kept his head low. "Do you have any notes for Ossea's class?"

Haiiden felt his heart race at the thought of the name, he had tried not to think of it lately but he knew that he would have to go back to its class tomorrow for another lecture. It even made him wish that this class would go on forever just so he wouldn't have to go there again.

"I don't, Zed, that's the class I am struggling on the most," Haiiden said with a frown.

"You and me both, mate," Zed replied.

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to Port's lecture anyway?" Haiiden asked, but also looked over to Port just in case if he realized that his students were whispering during his lecture.

"You kidding? Port's tests are easy! They are just multiple choice questions about his missions, and the right answers are usually the ones that make him seem off his head!" Zed pointed out, and Haiiden couldn't help but let out a laugh, but quickly shut his mouth and turned to Port again. It didn't seem that he noticed, but he kept his mouth covered as he turned to Zed, who was silently laughing to himself. Even Cecilia and Vaughn couldn't help but find amusement out of this, as it was technically true.

Then the bell rang, which signaled the end of the class, as well as the end of the day, and the students all got up to leave. Haiiden had made an appointment to meet with Oobleck to discuss some tutoring for his homework, especially in Ossea's class, as they both taught some sort of history; however, Ossea's history was more like social studies.

" And Haiiden, stay after class, please. Maybe you would like to recite _word for word_ what my lecture was about, since you seem so well versed in it as to be able to talk with your teammates during my class," Port announced out loud so that the whole class could hear and his mustache rose again.

* * *

Doctor Oobleck was quickly running around his classroom as usual as he gathered the variety of papers that was strewn around his class. Every few minutes, he would check the clock on the wall for the time and would sip from his thermos before he ran around again. Suddenly, the door to his class swung open, with a heaving Haiiden emerging from it, and he quickly descended the stairs and stopped in front of the Doctor.

"Sorry- that I'm- I'm late," Haiiden panted as he took in large gulps of air, while Oobleck looked down and took another sip from his thermos.

"Port sent word of what happened. You should know not to ignore his so-called 'lectures', Haiiden," Oobleck responded with a grin and he turned away to retrieve more papers, this time he had slowed down now that he had a guest.

"Yeah," Haiiden swallowed again, but was able to regain just enough of his breath to speak normally. "He had me recite his entire lecture."

"Oh dear," Oobleck joked and let out a single chuckle as he thought of how it probably went down.

"Well, I'm here now," Haiiden continued, but then Oobleck quickly turned around with his hand in the air to stop him.

"Yes, but you are past your scheduled appointment, and now it's time for even me to turn in for the night," said Oobleck. Haiiden felt a pang of confusion, maybe since he was so used to Oobleck being on the move that the thought of him sleeping was almost unimaginable, but he shook off the idea.

"But Professor, I need-"

"Doctor!" Oobleck exclaimed and he turned to Haiiden and ran at him with such blaring speed that it was as if he had teleported to him. "It's 'Doctor' Oobleck! And I am sorry, but you should have come in at your scheduled time."

Haiiden let out a sigh in defeat, it was still a couple of weeks until Ossea's end of the semester exam, but he was having trouble in its class; he really needed Doctor Oobleck's help to pass since his doctorate was in history, and he thought that it would help in this case.

"But Doctor, we have finals coming up, and at the rate I'm going, I'm going to fail Professor Ossea's final. Isn't there anything I can do?"

"As a matter of fact, there is, my dear lad. In fact, I thought you'd never ask, my boy! I haven't taken this out in years! Read this, and I guarantee you will receive top marks for your exam." Oobleck said with a hint of glee in his voice as he zipped to a cabinet and threw open the doors, which revealed dozens and dozens of seemingly identical binders. Oobleck threw out papers and folders from the cabinet, and with a heave, he pulled out something big from within the cabinet. Its weight was incredible, judging by the way Oobleck was carrying it and with another heave, he lifted it just above his desk and dropped it with such a thud, that it shook the ground. Haiiden stared at it with his mouth hanging wide open as he eyed three seemingly identical green binders, each of which was at least a foot thick. Haiiden looked at the title of the top binder, which said:

 **From the Great War to the Faunus Rights Revolution:  
Conflicts of the Modern Era - Causes and Consequences  
By Bartholomew Oobleck.  
Volume 1 of 3**

"Your- your doctoral dissertation?" Haiiden asked incredulously. He opened it a few pages and groaned as he realized with dawning horror that the pages were double sided. Haiiden was so taken by the size that he couldn't keep his eyes off of the trio of binders, but he couldn't help but quickly glance back at Oobleck, as he felt that this was a joke. His response was just a rather large grin that came from Oobleck.

"It's time to get serious, my boy. Do you want to ace your exams or not?" Oobleck said.

Haiiden sighed and picked up the binders, resigning himself to a lot of sleepless nights in the coming weeks.


	20. Vol 2: Chapter 3

"Samsara, have you thought about my request?" Ironwood, General of the Atlesian military, as well as Atlas Academy's Headmaster, asked as he stepped in front of one of his students, a tiger-Faunus named Samsara Ashram. He stood tall in front of her, but she couldn't help but feel that he was being a tad bit overbearing, especially since he was asking for a favor; in her mind though, it wasn't just a question, and she knew this was just going to be another useless discussion, as he was trying to force her into signing her enlistment papers, turning her into an officer in the Atlesian military as soon as she graduated.

"I have, and my answer is still no, sir," replied Samsara and she tried to walk around her Headmaster but was cut off by his two armed guards.

"Samsara," Ironwood exhaled, and stood for a few seconds to collect his thoughts; his impression was the same, that this was going to go nowhere, and this agitated him slightly. "We allowed you into Atlas since we thought your Semblance would be useful to us, especially to Atlas Military Intelligence."

"I thought I was admitted because of my exceptional ability to fight," Samsara stood with her arms crossed as she stared defiantly at Ironwood, but then a new thought arose in her mind as to how they knew about her Semblance before her admittance to Atlas Academy; with such a large army, and with a majority of the Kingdom's budget being allocated to it, she supposed it shouldn't be of any surprise to her.

"True, but we only allow the best to come Atlas; our military isn't the best just because we have the best trained soldiers, or because we have the largest army due to our androids, but it's also because we have forged otherwise freelance Huntsmen together into a coherent fighting force along with our conventional military," Ironwood elaborated further, while his facial expression didn't alter as he spoke, and looked his student in the eye.

"I am aware of your policies, sir. Huntsmen, upon graduation, choose whom they work for and what missions they take, but in Atlas, you pressure your students to join the military," Samsara countered; she knew it wasn't exactly how Ironwood, or any of the students would word it, but it was how she felt, especially given the frequency and tenor of these "discussions" or Ironwood's. She wasn't really being given a choice; it felt more like an ultimatum.

"We don't pressure, Samsara," Ironwood rebutted, as he closed his eyes and held them shut and exhaled again. "We just show that it is the best course of action for our students."

"And for me; is that right?" Samsara demanded and broke off from the military pose of which underlings usually addressed their superiors and stood with her fists tightened at her sides. For a moment, she felt a hint of pride when she continued to further defy Ironwood; she had been conditioned into the military lifestyle in the Academy, and she despised it. "Sir, are you aware as to how my Semblance works?"

"I am aware," Ironwood replied, and for the first time during their discussion, an expression washed over him as sense of sorrow loomed over his face.

"Then I hope you understand, that I am not looking forward to spending the rest of my life getting beaten half to death on a regular basis, just so that Military Intelligence can get what they need from my Semblance," Samsara said with a smile; but at that moment, she felt a chill run up her body, her hairs standing on end, and Ironwood began to notice her glazed expression as she stared into the distance.

The Call had come. Without so much as a word, or dismissal from her superior officer, Samsara turned and walked away from Ironwood before she turned around a nearby corner.

General Ironwood watched with an angered expression at this display of disrespect that Samsara had just displayed; although he understood her unwillingness to acquiesce to his request, but it didn't excuse leaving his presence without his dismissal. However, he knew his school was filled with children, so expressing their need to rebel was only natural, but they all needed to be trained for the military life. He took a deep breath and snapped his fingers at his guards, who all stood at attention and just as Ironwood was about to walk away, he noticed that Samsara had returned from around the corner.

His anger then turned to surprise as he saw Samsara's appearance: she seemed as though she had just returned from a battle. Scratches along the porcelain skin of her face, her orange and black striped hair was messy and disheveled, one of her cat ears was bloodied, and her clothes were torn; but the thing that struck him the most was her horrified expression, as she stood in front of Ironwood, with her weapons her in her hands. As he examined her further, the realization then dawned on him, as he realized what just happened.

"Samsara," Ironwood asked, but not before he turned to his bodyguards once more, and snapped at them again. The guards nodded and backed away from the two to give them space and some privacy.

"Samsara, what did you see? What did you experience?" he was stopped when she suddenly raised her weapons, a pair of double-barreled machine pistols, with a blade in between each of the barrels. Ironwood kept his calm stance, as he stared down at his student as he knew she wouldn't shoot him, especially since she had done this in his presence before.

"I know that you won't stop asking me," she said, her face expressed sadness as well as horror but it quickly abated as the blades on her guns retracted and she returned them to the holsters inside her jacket. "You will use everything in your power to get ahold of my Semblance; I know you have good intentions, sir, but there is something big coming, and I can't help if I am here. My place is not in the Atlesian Military Intelligence, but on the front lines, where I belong."

"Think carefully about what you are doing," Ironwood warned and his guards, again, approached behind Ironwood but he stopped them with a wave of his hand. "You and your entire family will become Ghosts in Atlas; your names will be stripped from you, your identities, property, and accounts will be seized."

"And you say you don't pressure, General; I would certainly call the threat of family excisement 'pressure'. I any event, I have carefully considered the consequences, and I'm sorry, yet not sorry, sir; I just can't stay here anymore," Samsara concluded; she wanted to have the last word, something that she could at least leave with, then she removed her grey and white school jacket, which was part of her uniform, and threw it down on the floor. Ironwood and Samsara exchanged glances, their eyes locked as Samsara began to back away slowly, and the guards were ready to pursue, but Ironwood stopped them as he raised his hand again; once she saw her chance, Samsara turned and ran. She didn't know what she would do once she got to Vale, but she knew she had to get there as quickly as possible.

* * *

Haiiden yawned silently as he kept reading through Doctor Oobleck's dissertation; his eyelids began to feel heavy as he tried his best to stay awake, since he hadn't had a good night's rest in a week due to his studying. In order to not endure this alone, he dragged Zed along with him, while Ren and Nora of Team JNPR joined to keep them company, especially since they were left alone while Pyrrha and Jaune continued with their secret lessons. When it came to schoolwork, Ren was always on top of it as he was the 'all-work-no-play' type of student, and it was because of this that he had always managed to reel in Nora and made her study as well.

Next to him was a plate of half-eaten pancakes that Ren had made; it turned out that he had made too many, as he anticipated that Nora would gorge herself on them, and while Nora seemed like she had a bottomless stomach, not even she could have eaten them all. So instead, the leftovers were given to HAVC, and Zed was noisily chewing on them as he began to feel bored after the endless nights of studying.

"You made these yourself, Ren?" Haiiden asked as he raised a brow curiously; surprisingly, the pancakes were really good, and he never expected someone like Ren to cook this well; even if they were something as simple as pancakes.

"Of course. When you have been with Nora this long, you realize that it is cheaper to make your own food than to buy it," Ren replied as he looked up from his textbook on his bedside.

"Yep! But I sometimes like to take out Ren for a treat," Nora added and she reached over and pinched Ren on the cheek, while he simply ignored her and kept his focus on his textbook. However, something else then caught his attention, as he turned to see that Zed had drifted to sleep again; his head propped up as he rested it on his palm. As a little joke, Haiiden then swatted his hand under Zed's elbow, which caused the fox-Faunus's head to fall-face first into his open book, the first volume of Oobleck's dissertation, which he was also reading along with Haiiden.

Zed took in a deep breath as he awoke suddenly and pulled back in his seat; he kept his eyes shut as the light began to burn them slightly. "Oi, mate, why do you have to do that?"

"I need you to concentrate, Zed. If one of us fails, then the rest of the team fails as well," Haiiden explained, while Nora jumped on her bed, which was evinced by the sounds of springs recoiling after each jump.

"Yeah, yeah," Zed answered, and he reluctantly resumed his previous position when he was asleep, but now his eyes went back to scanning the dissertation.

"Is that what happened to you? After you dropped out?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, even though this is our second year at Beacon, we unfortunately are not recognized as second year students, as per Ozpin's policies," Haiiden replied.

"Why did you leave in the first place?" Nora asked as she made a final jump on her bed, and took a seat as she landed right next to Ren. Unbeknownst to Haiiden, she quieted down for just a moment, as she remembered how upset Pyrrha was at this revelation, to the point where she didn't speak to him for a while, and this had made her curious. Haiiden thought silently to himself, he already tried to answer that question in his mind back when he visited his childhood home; Ozpin also asked that of him once, and even though he did give an answer, he realized he still didn't know the real answer after all this time. Maybe it was best to stick with the one answer until he thought of something else to say about it.

"I wanted to do good in my own way. I never understood the need to go to a Huntsman Academy if I already knew how to fight Grimm," Haiiden answered.

"That doesn't seem like much of a reason," Nora added, and for the first time, something that Nora had said had caught Haiiden off guard.

"I still remember the day he left," Zed joined in, his voice was low and wasn't filled with life as usual. "It was right after our mission in a village outside of Vale."

"A village?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, we shadowed a Huntsman who was also the village's sheriff," Zed finished. For a moment, Ren showed genuine emotion as he thought about this idea.

"Maybe something happened there that made you want to leave?" Ren pondered.

"I don't know, maybe," Haiiden answered in a low voice. The room went silent for a moment, and Haiiden was glad of this. He didn't want to think any more on the subject and just wanted to focus on his studying, as it was very interesting. For a doctorate, one must defend their thesis statement and evidence before a panel of experts, and answer the questions posed by that panel, and Oobleck did just that, much to Haiiden's surprise. Most who encountered the Doctor would think he was just crazy; someone who wasn't in control of their thoughts, and was just quickly bouncing from one point to another.

Yet this dissertation was clear and concise, and even thought-provoking, which was something that he never thought he would get out of something that Oobleck had written; it was almost an enlightening revelation about the nature of war, and the causes and consequences of every conflict from the Great War to the Faunus Rights Revolution. When Ozpin tried to teach Haiiden history as a child, it used to be his most hated subject, and Ozpin would often bring in Oobleck to assist. Maybe it was because of the mindset he had at the time that made him still hate it, but upon reading this, it actually got Haiiden interested in history for the first time. It brought the past to life for him, and was more than a collection of dates and events, but was a clash of ideologies and motivations.

Although he still disliked the studying aspects of his classes, he actually began to enjoy Oobleck's writings and made it seem like less of a chore.

"Can't wait until this semester is over," Haiiden commented with a heavy sigh as the fatigue and mental strain began to tax him, but a pang of relief swelled in him as he realized that the semester was almost over. "The next one will be much simpler, since we will mostly focus on the missions in the middle of the semester, and then preparing for the combat tournament for the Vytal Festival."

"So, what are we to expect from this mission next semester?" Nora asked, her gleeful nature returned as she jumped from her seat towards the table, and leaned forward with her elbows on the desk as she scanned Haiiden's study material.

"Not much; like I said, you shadow a certified Huntsman or Huntress. It's pretty simple," Haiiden responded, his voice sounded monotone and disinterested from the fatigue. "You will also be choosing who it is you shadow."

"What exactly do these missions entail?" Ren asked as he leaned forward in his seat.

"Mostly killin' Grimm," Zed answered; last year's mission was his favorite part of the year, however, it had been spoiled by his friend leaving shortly thereafter.

Ren wondered for a bit at the idea of choosing whom to shadow for his team's mission for the second semester, but it was months away, and he had other things to focus on. However, it would stay on his mind for a while, as this sounded like an interesting mission to participate in. "So, how will the fact that you are considered first years affect your missions?"

"According to Ozpin, many of the first year rules don't apply to us. So I guess we won't have to shadow a Huntsman, and if anything, we already took our mission for the year. The mission in the middle of the second semester will be considered extra credit." Haiiden then thought about the idea of extra credit. It could especially help his team in case they were falling behind, or if they thought their grades weren't up to their personal standards. Again, he banished the thought from his mind and tried to re-focus on his studies; he enjoyed his time with JNPR but with the constant questions, he realized he couldn't study while they were continually querying him.

After a while though, Haiiden was finally able to grasp his studies, and began to write frantically as he read through Oobleck's _fascinating_ dissertation.

"I think I am finally getting this," Haiiden said to himself as he turned to Zed. He saw that he had fallen asleep, his head on his book and was snoring quietly.

* * *

The next morning, Glynda was holding another sparring match during her class; her gaze quickly transitioned between her Scroll and the two students who were fighting, Byeli and Velvet, while teams CFVY and CNBR silently sat together as they watched their respective teammates fight. Everyone in the class wondered how it would be to pit two Faunus together in a match, but nobody really expected how boring it would be. The skills of both Byeli and Velvet were amazing, however, as their agility made it difficult to land a hit on one another, since they didn't commit to full-on attacks before they backed away from a potential counterattack. Instead, they traded light attacks, and while most of them missed, some were close calls, but they were mostly near misses and grazes.

"They seem pretty evenly matched," Celise commented, her attention fixated on the fight between the two Faunus. Unaware that Cardin of Team CRDL was sitting above them with his gaze fixated on the fight. His eyes narrowed and he was nostrils flared as he continued to watch the match.

Byeli recoiled, placing her foot down on the floor as a brace to keep herself from falling backwards. When her foot finally stopped, she pushed herself forward and wound her arm up to strike down at Velvet, who in turn went low and rolled under Byeli's attack and quickly turned to fire an ice lance at her. Byeli quickly turned around, and saw the attack coming at her, and she batted away the lance with her staff, but to her surprise, as she deflected the attack she realized that Velvet had already launched a second lance at her.

Byeli managed to dodge out of the way, but it was out of instinct, and had no coordination behind it as spectators saw her stagger as she tried to regain her balance. Glynda always taught her class that it was the first successful hit that would determine the outcome of battle, and although Byeli wasn't hit, she let her guard down enough for Velvet to take advantage of the situation. She raised her hands up while a cool mist formed around her hand and she struck it down onto the ground, and with lightning speed the arena floor was turned to ice. This sudden change in the arena made Byeli lose focus further and slipped in an attempt to correct her bearing; while she almost managed to catch herself, she still couldn't find a good grip on the floor and was practically skating along the surface.

Cardin laughed at this display, which caught the attention of both CFVY and CNBR, but they didn't pay attention for long, as the match was beginning to get exciting. As they watched, they realized that Byeli wasn't the only one skating along the floor as Velvet rushed in towards her, each kick of her foot allowed her to propel herself forward along the ice. Her agility and balance allowed her to avoid falling onto the floor, and she gained enough speed to jump and kick Byeli in the chest; the force of which propelled her back over a dozen feet, as her body slid along the crystalline surface of the floor. The air crackled as Velvet threw some Dust into the air, and Byeli looked up to see a roiling cloud above her, the air crackled above her and suddenly, lightning shot down at her.

Byeli just barely managed to dodge the attack with a one-handed cartwheel, the ground broke behind her where the lightning struck and again, Byeli slid along the ice. Before long, she struck her staff down into the white surface of the floor, and the rod managed to embed itself through the ice and even into the concrete base of the amphitheater's arena; her eyes widened in surprise as she finally stopped moving and froze as if she wondered what she had just done. However, this wasn't the first time she was in a situation like this; back when she was doing her shows, there were many times where she was almost killed by one of the Grimm that was brought in, and when she managed to win, the audience was none the wiser to her slip up, believing that her peril was all part of the act.

Her mind reverted back into the battle, and she quickly noticed that Velvet was charging at her again; to counter, she shifted her body weight and swung herself around her staff to dodge the attack and quickly broke off the top half and embedded it into the ground as well. Once Velvet turned around to face her opponent again, she saw that Byeli had already jumped up onto her rods and had balanced herself between them. Velvet prepared another Dust attack, this time, fire emanated from her palms and she was about to throw it, until Byeli rolled forward onto the rod nearest Velvet; she landed on her left palm, and spun and used her right foot to kick Velvet's hand, throwing off her aim and the fireball landed among the spectator stands.

Velvet caught herself, and went in to strike at Byeli, who dodged by spinning on the balls of her palm while she alternated hands in order to not twist it too much.

"Oh, this is getting fun," Celise commented with a grin as she watched two of the students in the stands patting out their smoldering clothes.

"Seems so," Coco replied while a grin fell on her face, as well as her own team as they watched Velvet. After a few more moments of the two Faunus trading blows and dodging each other's attacks, Glynda finally stepped into the arena and raised her hand.

"Enough," Glynda announced, much to the two combatants surprise, and they both looked up onto a giant screen that was hung above the arena which had their portraits on it. Underneath the portraits, were two bars that showed their Aura levels, and it was below thirty percent for both of the Faunus. "Good job,you two, however, I will call it a draw for now, as we are out of time, with no one clearly in the lead. Byeli, you'd do well to dodge Dust-based attacks in the future."

"Yes, Professor Goodwitch." Replied a very fatigued Byeli, as sweat beaded down her cheeks from beneath her messy hair. CFVY and CNBR descended from the stands to join their respective teammates; while CNBR cheered for their little Faunus, who managed to do well against a sophomore student, CFVY casually walked up to Velvet, and Coco put an arm around her and pulled her close.

"Velvet," Coco said with a bit of cheeriness and admonishment in her voice.

"I know, Coco," Velvet replied as she blushed slightly.

"Ms. Scarletina," Glynda said, as she suddenly approached in front of CFVY and focused her gaze on Velvet; who was almost intimidated by the gaze, but knew she had to keep eye contact. "I have seen you fight before, and although I understand going easy on the first years; you need to know that we do not coddle our students. They came here to fight, and we can't afford to pull our punches, as it were."

"I understand, Professor Goodwitch," Velvet replied and turned back to take a glance and couldn't help but smile at a now proud Team CNBR.

"Now that your critique is out of the way, I suggest you head to your next class," Glynda concluded but then her Scroll went off as she then received a call and she stepped out of the class. CFVY then nodded as Glynda turned to leave, while Velvet then had a thought, and she pulled Coco off towards CNBR.

"Guys," she said and pulled a camera from her bag just before stopping in front of CNBR. "Let's remember this moment!"

CNBR beamed as they looked at the camera and it snapped as the picture was taken. They all joined around Velvet to see how it turned out, only to see that the picture wasn't in frame, and neither was it focused. Everyone around Velvet all turned away and scratched the back of her heads, while Velvet kept her smile, although it wavered slightly. "Still working on my photography, guys."

"We know; send us a copy sometime," Celise joked and she turned with her team to leave the arena.

"Hold on, guys," Byeli said, as she sat down and wiped her face with a towel. "I need a few minutes to clean up and cool off."

" Ok, we will meet you at our next class, then," Celise yelled after her before she left with the rest of her team.

When Byeli was done with her break, she got up and began to make her way to her next class with a bit of a skip in her step; in her mind, she had just finished a sparring match that ended well. She couldn't help but smile, but either because she wasn't paying attention, or just wasn't looking straight as she ended up bumping into someone and only realized who it was until she looked up.

"Not bad, for an animal," Cardin commented with a grin, and he tilted his head at the tiny Faunus.

"Thank you," Byeli said with a smile; she knew that Cardin was trying to enrage her, but she had fought well, and she already proved herself. Cardin's grin wavered slightly, as this was not the reaction he had hoped to get from her, but he kept his temper nonetheless and he stalked towards her. Upon noticing his menacing demeanor, Byeli immediately began to feel uncomfortable but held her ground and tightened her fists.

"You know, I had thought about your little challenge regarding our rematch, and I thought I would take you up on it." He then reached behind him and pulled out his mace, then held it in both hands; the rest of team CRDL stood behind and grinned menacingly as Cardin pulled out his weapon. "Just you and me, next sparring class."

Byeli then remembered how she and Celise had challenged Cardin to a duel a while back. How instead, she fought Cardin's two other teammates: Dove and Russel, to prove to herself that she was worthy of attending Beacon. "You declined, remember? You had your chance, Cardin. I don't have anything to prove to you."

"Oh, really? Then I'll just have to challenge you now," Cardin said as he strode toward Byeli; his weapon in hand. It was at that moment that Byeli realized that she couldn't get out of this, as the rest of CRDL cut off any avenue of escape while they surrounded her on all sides. She was now alone with Cardin, and even though there were a couple of witnesses who could see what was happening, they were too afraid to do anything. Byeli drew her weapon and immediately stuck the rods together to make her signature staff and pointed one end at Cardin. Even though she had already beaten Russel and Dove in a duel before, but she had just gotten out of a sparring match, her aura levels were down, and most of her energy was drained.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the rest rooms outside of the amphitheater, Haiiden and Zed were using the facilities. Zed was finished and leaning against the wall next to the door while Haiiden washed his hands. "If only our facilities in the dorm were this clean; I could practically eat off that khazi."

Haiiden chuckled. "Didn't your mother teach you to wash your hand after using the 'khazi'?" he said as he turned off the sink and pulled a couple of paper towels from the dispenser.

"Naw, mate. But she did teach me not to piss on me fingers," he said with mirth in his voice and grinned.

The two left the rest room and heard a clanging coming from the amphitheater. Concerned, they looked at each other, and back at the door, which they tentatively opened and looked inside.

* * *

Inside the amphitheater, Cardin swung the mace horizontally at Byeli's head, which she dodged by rolling under the strike, but he had been watching her fight; he sensed a pattern and immediately turned and swung wide and to his right. She turned to block, and although both of their weapons made contact, his strength coupled with the weight of his weapon had sent her flying back into Dove. He did catch her, but he immediately threw her back into the fight, at which point she rolled once more as Cardin then swung at her head again. Panic then set in, as Byeli was spent after her fight with Velvet and she knew she couldn't commit to a full attack without it being turned against her somehow. The only option that was left to her was to play on the defensive, and hope to find an opening, or at least hold out until Professor Goodwitch returned.

Both of the spectators ran out of the amphitheater and past Zed and Haiiden, who were watching in horror from the entrance; the other students had fled mostly in fear, but to also look for the Professor as the ringing from both of Cardin's and Byeli's weapons clashing against each made the arena sound like a blacksmith's. Each hit was brutal, and it taxed Byeli further as her arms became heavier and heavier every time she put her arms up to block; and every time, Cardin would knock her staff out of the way to leave an opening. Out of desperation, Byeli swung her staff, while summoning every last ounce of her strength and guided his mace out of the way once she had blocked it; ifinally Byeli had seen an opening in his defenses, she took the end of her rod and struck him in the cheek.

Cardin staggered to his left, his eyes closed as he took in a deep breath, he had beaten this little Faunus before, but now, even when she was most vulnerable, he couldn't beat her. So with both hands he swung his mace again; this time, the heavy attack made Byeli lose grip of her weapon, and it was sent flying.

"Hold her," Cardin commanded and Sky tried to wrap his arms around her, while Dove and Russel each grabbed her arms; she immediately whipped her head back into his nose; she immediately turned and went low as she faced her the new enemy who joined into the fray, but while she was distracted, Cardin raised his mace over his shoulders and prepared himself, ready to swing down like a construction worker, driving a hammer down onto a spike. At that moment, Cardin hesitated as sparks from the arena floor distracted him, his swing a split second too late as Haiiden rolled back up and used the momentum to bring up his sword to deflect Cardin's attack.

Russel then jumped in after letting go of Byeli's arm, but he stepped too far forward, and Haiiden slammed him foot down on the other man's boot and brought his gauntlet into his nose, breaking it as blood sprayed all over the floor. Zed jumped into the fray as well, causing Dove and Sky to back away from Byeli as they took defensive positions, which was exactly what Zed wanted, and he stood protectively between Byeli and her attackers. Haiiden then took this moment of pause, and when Cardin wasn't paying attention, he pressed the tip of his sword to Cardin's chest.

"Let me guess: 'This isn't our business', right?" Haiiden asked, sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah, we've heard that one before," Zed finished.

"You know, I always wanted to try my hand against you," Cardin remarked, and with a grin, he lowered his weapon which Haiiden eyed before he looked back up at Cardin.

"Likewise," Haiiden replied, nonchalantly, as he remembered how Cardin had greeted him at the start of the year. If it were any other situation, Haiiden would have had fun in a sparring duel with Cardin, however, the fact that he was again tormenting another student has made his mood rather sour. "If you ask me, Zed went easy on you, especially after what you did the Jaune Arc. Today, I'll remedy that oversight."

Haiiden heard a shuffle behind him, so in response, he shifted his body weight to quickly spin to the right, and with a quick twirl of his sword, he swung right as well, and deflected Russel's attack; he then quickly leaned back just a split after, narrowly dodging an attack from Cardin, as the head of his mace passed over his face. In order to give himself some room to think, with quick footwork as if he danced, Haiiden quickly backed away from his attackers, deflecting each hit as it came.

Zed, fully armed, managed to deflect an attack as the edge of his karambit caught Dove's sword, and guided it out of the way as he also leaned to the side. Although they weren't murderers in any respect, Zed could feel the tension in the air as CRDL was clearly out for blood. He then jumped back as Sky then thrust his halberd at Zed upon seeing a potential opening. Distance was Sky's weakness, if he could at least stay within arm's length, then Sky couldn't use his halberd correctly; so Zed grabbed the shaft of Sky's weapon, and pulled him towards himself as he punched him on the bridge of the nose; Sky then staggered back. After a split, Zed preemptively pulled his arm back again, and with his karambit in hand, deflected Dove's counter. Sparks flew as both of their blades scraped against each other, and Zed pushed him away and again, went to attack Sky as he perceived him to be the biggest threat.

Haiiden twirled his blade in front of him to throw off his two opponents as they both charged at him; Cardin raised his arms and swung down and to the left at Haiiden, who then deflected it by swinging his sword to the right and left a wide gap in Cardin's defenses. Cardin then let out a growl of frustration, as tried to swing again to counter, but was swiftly kicked to the ground by Haiiden, but in doing so, he left himself open for an attack from his left by Russel. Russel went in, daggers in both hands, and went to attack for Haiiden's exposed left side; but to his surprise, Haiiden twirled his sword in the air and let go, only to suddenly catch it with his left arm and he swung at Russel and forced him to abandon the attack and to go on the defense. For added measure, Haiiden used his heel and kicked Cardin in the head, knocking him to the ground, before switching his attention fully onto Russel while Cardin got up.

Byeli noticed how this time, Zed's eyes weren't orange, if anything, she would have guessed that he was having fun during this fight; although his face didn't betray that. Sky managed to get the distance that he needed to make use of his halberd, and began to thrust at Zed relentlessly. While Zed did manage to quickly lean back and out of danger, he realized that he couldn't divert his attention away, in case Sky were to land a lucky hit. At that moment, Dove rushed in to attack, and Zed considered the situation he was in and out of sheer luck, he moved out of the way and Dove ran into Sky's attacks; upon noticing, Sky immediately abandoned the attack in order to not hurt his teammate.

" _They don't have any synergy_ ; _there is no coordination in their attacks as a team_ ," Zed realized and he brought his elbow down onto the head of Sky's halberd and, coupled with Sky's weight, he lost his balance, and the head of the halberd embedded itself onto the arena floor. Dove hesitated for a moment as he saw that his teammate was now weaponless, but then snapped back to attention as he realized Zed had was now charging him. Forced on the defensive, Dove instead narrowly blocked every attack that Zed threw at him with his karambit. Like a double edged sword, it took precision to block something as large as a sword with something as small as a karambit, but it also took coordination to block a karambit with a sword as well. Attacks came from left and right, up and down, which left Dove guessing where the next strike would come from, until finally he slipped up, and Zed thrusted his fist into the bridge of Dove's nose, bloodying it, and leaving him on the floor as he then reverted his attention back to Sky.

Sky was trying to remove his halberd from off the arena floor, when he noticed Zed charging at him head on; he quickly pulled back and readied his fists for a head on attack but instead, Zed ran up the length of the halberds shaft while using his Faunus nimbleness to make sure it didn't budge. Once he reached the end of the shaft, he jumped off, and flipped back in the air and twisted around while in flight before landing in a crouch on Sky's shoulders. With Sky's head between his legs, Zed proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the face, with quick succession, until Sky was down for the count.

Haiiden already began to feel the fatigue set in, he had been mostly on the defensive after Cardin got back up, his attacks got heavier and his swings wild and unpredictable. Coupled with Russel's quick attacks with his daggers, and the fact that he stayed up all night studying, had put him in a serious disadvantage. Cardin then swung down at him, but managed to block with his gauntlet, which still held his sword, and with a grin, Haiiden dropped his blade into his open right hand and swung back to block an attack from behind by Russel.

"Zed, really? During a fight?" Byeli asked with a sheepish smile as Zed began to flirt with her.

"Why not? Haiiden can handle this," Zed said with a reassuring smile.

Haiiden was left in a losing situation, either he stayed in a stalemate that wouldn't last long as he began to lose strength from holding back the combined might of Russel and Cardin, or he would attempt to knock one back and alternate his attention between the two. It was worth a shot in his mind, so he pushed Russel away, unaware that he didn't add enough force behind the shove before he turned his attention to Cardin. He kneed Cardin in the stomach and forced him to the ground, but at that moment, he felt a sharp pain in his side and he let out yelp that echoed in the arena.

The first successful strike was what determined the outcome of a battle, it allowed one to guess and manipulate their opponent's movements; that was what Glynda Goodwitch had taught them. Zed immediately turned around, his eyes widened in horror as he saw that Russel's dagger had plunged into Haiiden's side. Out of desperation, and adrenaline rush, Haiiden then moved his left arm back into Russel's stomach but then Cardin grabbed him by his shawl and lifted him into the air. Haiiden, however, flipped his sword so that he held the blade in his head and clubbed Cardin in the head with the cross guard; as he fell to the floor, Haiiden staggered on his feet as he tried to stay balanced. At that moment, Russel went in to attack Haiiden again and he moved his sword in to block the first dagger, then rolled inward to elbow Russel with his gauntlet again.

His motions were now more choreographed, and easy to guess, as Russel caught his arm and plunged his second dagger into the slit in his gauntlet. Zed's eyes flared with anger, emanating an orange glow as he slowly approached the battle; first it was a simple trudge forward, until it exploded to a full on charge as he yelled out and jumped, ready to attack his opponent from behind. However, a wave of air repulsed in the middle of Haiiden's position, and Cardin, Russel, and as well as Zed, were launched away from him.

"That's enough!" Ordered Professor Goodwitch, as another student followed behind her, whom Zed recognized was one of the spectators who went to call for help. Haiiden then fell to the floor as he held his side which still had Russel's dagger inside of him.

"Mate!" Zed yelled and tried to rush to his friend's aid, before he was cut off by Glynda, as well as a pair of the schools medical staff who came in with a stretcher.

"Enough, Mr. Ignis!" Glynda ordered.

"But - " Zed said frantically, his eyes turned back to their normal green, but instead were filled with fear.

"The school's medical staff will see to him. You can see him after, but in the meantime we will get to the bottom of this. Student's testimonies, as well as camera footage will allow us to know what happened, and we will administer proper punishments," Glynda finished and she snapped at the medical staff before she turned her attention to Team CRDL.

"As for you! CRDL! Turn in your weapons, and return to your dorm! I will escort you to the Headmaster's office personally." She finished, and stood ready, and withdrew her riding crop from its holster against the side of her calf and wielded it at the group, in case either of the students tried anything.

Zed watched as the medical staff attempted to put Haiiden onto the stretcher, but he refused to lie still as he insisted it was fine. It wasn't until Glynda came and struck him with the riding crop, did he finally relent, and lay on the stretcher. Before long, all of Team CRDL trudged through the arena to its exit, but then Haiiden called out to Russel suddenly.

"You forgot this," Haiiden said through his teeth as he pulled out the blade that was in his side and threw it at him. He caught it, and glared at him fiercely as he waited for the second one; the medical staff urged Haiiden not to move at first, but he ignored them and with a heave, he pulled out the second dagger from his gauntlet and threw it towards Russel again. After he caught it, he began to scan the daggers but then he recoiled with surprise as he realized that the first blade had blood on it, and was further surprised to not see any on the second one.

* * *

"How is he, nurse?" Ozpin asked as he stepped into the school's infirmary, but not before moving out of the way to allow Oobleck and Port to leave the infirmary. Although he did come in for one specific patient, he still made an effort to look at each individual student, and gave them ample attention before moving on to the next.

"Which one, Headmaster?" the nurse asked with a clipboard in hand, having scanned each male name to pinpoint to whom he was referring; especially since quite a few had been brought in.

"You know which one," Ozpin said with a slight chuckle before he stopped in front of Haiiden's bed. To his side, Zed was sitting anxiously and twiddling his thumbs in front of him.

"He will be fine," the nurse stated and bowed before she turned to leave the Headmaster alone.

"Always the one for theatrics and drama, aren't you, Haiiden?" Ozpin commented and sipped from his cup, which seemed fresh from the subtle steam that it emitted.

"Well, Cardin was bullying again, someone had to stop him," Haiiden retorted.

"Of course, as we must look out for each other; I am not admonishing you for what you did," Ozpin replied and his facial expression softened.

"Almost feels like it," Haiiden whispered to himself and turned away.

"Are you going to expel CRDL?" Zed joined in, his fists tightened now, but he didn't look up from Haiiden's bedside.

"There was a fight, and someone took it too far; I see no need to expel anyone, however, there will be some disciplinary action," Ozpin answered.

"They attacked Byeli, and stabbed Haiiden!" Zed knocked his chair over as he suddenly stood up.

"Remember who it is you are speaking to," said Glynda suddenly as she entered the infirmary and kept her gaze on Zed as she stalked over to Ozpin, and stood at his side.

"It's alright, Glynda. His reaction is understandable. You two always fought together, and often into fought when the odds were clearly against you," Ozpin pointed out, and for a moment Zed calmed down, and his grin appeared again.

"Well yeah, just me and Haiiden all the way," Zed commented.

"What about your other teammates?" Ozpin asked in jest.

"Them too," Haiiden added.

"If I may ask, where were they in all of this?" Ozpin then asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, Vaughn contracted some kind of bug, and stayed back at the dorm, while Cecilia took care of him," Haiiden answered, his head held high as he accounted for his teammates.

"Ah, and how do you feel everything is going on with your team?" Ozpin continued to ask, and it felt for a moment that Haiiden was being interrogated.

"Eh, it's alright I guess, not exactly sure how to describe the team dynamic, but we manage," Haiiden answered.

"I see; I ask since Cecilia and Vaughn always have each other's back, as brother and sister. From what I was told, Zed was… distracted, and left you to fight two on your own," Ozpin pointed out, however, to him it was just a simple question, while Zed took it as an accusation.

"Mate, I said I was sorry," Zed immediately replied and turned to Haiiden.

"I'm used to it by now, I really don't mind," Haiiden reassured him.

"Well, if everything is really alright, then I guess we have nothing more to discuss; rest easy, Haiiden, once you are well, it's back to your classes," Ozpin said with a hint of mirth before he turned to leave the infirmary, but as he left, Zed continued to hold his head down, and couldn't look up at Haiiden.

"Zed, I said it was fine, really, if anything, I am to blame. I was tired, and thought I could take on both," Haiiden got up with a grunt so that he sat on his bed, all while leaning back on the headboard to brace himself.

"You always had my back, and yet when you needed me, I wasn't there," Zed said softly to the point where Haiiden almost didn't hear.

"Well, it's the 'Zed' I know. If I didn't have fun every once in a while, then I wouldn't hang out with you," Haiiden said, this time with a genuine chuckle and hoped it would be enough to cheer him up. For a moment it did, but he still held his head down, at least until another person came in through the door, or rather 'persons'.

"Oh come on, it doesn't look that bad," commented Coco as she eyed Haiiden from top to bottom. "Nothing you never received before in the field, right?"

"It honestly doesn't feel as bad either; Doctor says I should be able to leave in a few days," Haiiden replied, pulling the second volume of Oobleck's dissertation, that had been brought for him, into his lap. "Besides, it will give me some time to study without interruption."

"What did Headmaster Ozpin say about what they will do with CRDL?" Velvet asked.

"They will not expel them," Zed said with a slight hiss in his voice.

"Ah, whatever. They're all talk anyway," Coco responded, which Zed responded with a smile but then noticed movement behind them as someone peered through the door to the infirmary.

"Hold on guys," Zed said before he got up and walked out of the infirmary. Once he closed the door, he turned around to face the little Faunus girl, Byeli.

"Hey. How is he?" Byeli asked.

"Haiiden? He's a trooper; trust me, he's had worse," Zed said with a grin while he popped out his fox ears and wiggled them at her, which made her giggle. They both stood in silence in front of each other for a moment, and Zed began to scratch the back of his head as he thought of what to say. "Hey, I wanted to ask if you'd like to go out for some tea some time; I know a nice little place in Little Menagerie."

"Zed, are you asking me out?" Byeli asked as her eyes widened.

"Well, yeah," Zed answered, but his grin wavered slightly as Byeli stared at him, intensely.

"Do you always ask out girls when your friend is in the infirmary?" Byeli finally asked, and couldn't help but laugh.

"That's nothing. A few days before the semester began, I chatted up a couple of birds in an alley while he fought for his life against four guys …"

* * *

 **(AN: Both "samsara" and "ashram" are Sanskrit words with meanings in both Buddhism and Hinduism. However, this does not break the color rule, as a lot of people don't know that "samsara" is also a type a extremely high quality porcelain that is translucent. Samsara's color is demonstrated in her porcelain skin.)**


	21. Vol 2: Chapter 4

Sun meticulously inspected each crate in the starboard side of the ship's cargo hold, and was careful to not leave any evidence of tampering while his stomach grumbled loudly. He silently cursed to himself, as he had waited for the perfect opportunity to nab some more food; he often went a day or two at a time without eating so as not to leave noticeable signs of food going missing. However, today of all days, he felt the hungriest he had been during this entire voyage, and decided to risk going at the crates again. He carefully lifted the lids of a couple crates, and, like most of the containers on the port side of the hold, they held either expensive fabrics or building materials, and quickly dismissed them. He ate when he absolutely had to, but was careful never to dip from the same crate more than once.

Once he had gotten to the crates on the starboard aft side of the hold, to the second half of the crates that were stacked on top of each other, did he finally find his prize. Inside were fruits of different kinds, but what had caught his eye was the crate filled with bunches of bananas that were still attached to one another at the stem; a grin fell upon his face as he picked out a couple of yellow, barely ripened bunches, while also taking a few bunched that were still green, but close to becoming ripe; they would sustain him for the rest of the journey. He went back to a new hiding spot that he had made in the portside aft corner of the hold, careful to avoid the scale plates that would give away his presence by his weight, where a few crates were set up so that he could lay behind them and sleep when he needed to. He sat right outside of his nook, and began to quickly eat the fresh bananas, while he hid the spare bunches behind the crates.

However, during his meal, he stopped chewing and he froze as either his Faunus senses, or his thieving instinct told him that someone was coming. He quickly shrunk as close to the corner as he could, and slowed his breathing, wary of whoever was coming and fearful that they could somehow sense him by just his breathing, just as he had been during his trek in the fetid honeydipper barrel; he peeked out slightly, so as to see what might be going on.

Two of the ship's crew members, one with a clipboard who was meticulously reading over it while he mouthed something to himself, while the second man stood behind him with his hands at his hips. "Everything seems to be in order; I don't know why you are freaking out," said the man who had his hands at his hips.

"Something just doesn't add up. These crate scales for the produce don't match the numbers we had when we left port," the man who had the clipboard responded. At that moment, Sun realized what it was they were searching for, and he inched slightly back into his hiding spot while still keeping an eye on them. The man with the clipboard then climbed a metal ladder to the top one of the numerous stacks of crates, and began to open the ones to the left and right of him, one by one; he took a few moments to seemingly examine the contents of each crate for obvious signs of theft. After he was done, he climbed down again and checked the scale readouts for that pallet columns, and compared it to the numbers on the clipboard again to make sure that everything matched, but still seemed disgruntled.

"Nothing seems seriously amiss, but the scale readouts don't lie. Could it be evaporation? The numbers should be a little off; that's just natural, but not this much. It's almost like one of the crew is dipping into the produce on the side," he said. "Nothing is off on the stacks of the non-edibles."

"The scales might be in need of recalibration. The salt air does that sometimes; otherwise you probably didn't weigh them correctly when we first set off; I notice that sometimes your toes brush the scale plate when you're leaning in to examine the readouts," the second man said and he crossed his arms in front of him. "Anyways, so what's this the Captain mentioned at morning mess about a second job when we get into port?"

"Well, from what I've heard, the Captain has hired us out to the Schnee Company to offload a huge shipment of Dust from Atlas a couple of days after we finish offloading our own cargo. We get in Friday afternoon, and are at liberty after we finish offloading for a couple of days. Apparently, with all the Dust robberies in Vale, and Dust being at a premium there because of it, the Schnee Company sent a massive freighter, the biggest in their fleet, to resupply their depleted shops. The Schnee freighter gets in Sunday afternoon, so we're to report to berth YB-37 at seven o'clock. Double overtime," he smiled.

Sun quirked a brow upon mention of robberies, then became curious as to the reference of Dust. He had practically searched all the cargo containers, at least the ones at the tops of the stacks, and not one of them had Dust in it, but then it made him wonder if there was any supply on the ship that he could plunder; it might come in handy, especially if he got caught.

"I heard it was the White Fang behind the robberies. If you ask me, the Captain should be giving us hazard pay for this," the second man responded.

"I agree, this whole situation stinks, but that's not the worst of it. We'll be working with the crew of the freighter to offload it, but we're supposed to be working late into the night, possibly well past midnight, just so they can immediately get underway again and load up with Dust in Atlas. I can't wait till it's over so we can load up and get back underway ourselves," the man with the clipboard concluded, and they both started to walk back up to the ship's deck.

"Do you know if we're supposed to have any kind of layover in Vale during the Vytal Festival?" one of them asked as they walked.

"I'm not sure," the other, the one with the clipboard responded. "Why?"

"I want to catch some of the Combat Tournament; I hear Beacon is fielding Pyrrha Nikos. What red blooded man of Mistral wouldn't want to see _her_ in action? I mean, why do you think I ask the Captain to stock Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes in the larder for me? Just so I can see her beaming face looking back at me every morning." The rest was unintelligible as the two walked out of range of Sun's ability to hear them, and as they left, Sun let out a sigh of relief.

However, the conversation still bugged him, but he tried to disregard it, as it had nothing to do with him. Now, he was left with no other choice than to bide his time, as Vale was only a couple days away.

Sun was blissfully unaware of who he would meet, and how they would change his life, as when he finally landed in Vale, and after he nabbed another banana, he would stumble upon a very curious girl; a girl with a black bow in her hair and a pair of interesting yellow eyes. A girl named Blake Belladonna.

* * *

 **(A couple days later)**

It was nighttime, and in the darkness Blake stood in front of a pair of statues that stood erect in front of the academy's courtyard; a sculpture that portrayed a Huntsman and Huntress as they stood over a fallen Grimm. As she continued to scan the sculpture, her mind reverted to an argument she been having all evening with her teammate, Weiss Schnee, about the heiress's disposition towards the Faunus, and the White Fang in particular; it was an argument that was sparked after her team heard about a Dust shop robbery in downtown Vale, and that the suspects were possibly the White Fang; it didn't help that almost immediately afterward they ran into another Faunus, a monkey-Faunus, who had stowed away on a nearby ship and stole some food before he disappeared. Although Weiss had made many comments about the Faunus in the past, enough was enough, and Blake felt that she was forced to defend them. Defend herself.

"They're all degenerates! Liars, thieves and murderers!" was what Weiss spat, after she revealed that like some of the Faunus, she and her family were victims due to their own prejudice and labor practices.

"Well maybe we just got tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled without thinking, and she realized that she had revealed too much, and after standing, stunned at her own words for a long moment, ran out of their dorm.

At that thought, her heart sank and her eyes continued to examine the statue until they fell on the Grimm that stood underneath the Huntsman, an artist's representation of the creatures that had plagued humanity and the Faunus for centuries. Members of the White Fang wore ceremonial Grimm masks in defiance of humanity and to mock what humanity thought of them as: monsters.

She was once someone who once stood for the idea of being proud of being a Faunus, but also the idea that she was a person, just as humans thought of themselves; now she only felt shame, after years of making excuses, she had to come to terms that the White Fang had become exactly that: thieves and murders, just as Weiss had said, What was once an accessory, had now become a symbol of her shame: her bow.

Ever since the fateful day she had put on her bow, she wanted to be relieved of that shame. She reached behind her head, and slowly tugged at the ends; she felt it give as the knot that held the bow loosened, until finally it give way and fell into her hand. She glanced at it briefly before she closed her eyes as she only wanted to feel the cool breeze along her now freed cat ears, and she gave them a slight wiggle. However, this did not alleviate her misery and fear, as she realized that she would have to put it back on and go back into hiding. Her fingers curled around the ribbon and she wiped the tears from her eyes with it.

"I knew you would look better without the bow," she heard from behind, and strangely enough, that was all it took for her sorrow to disappear completely as she stared into the smiling face and shaggy blonde hair of Sun Wukong, the boy who had stowed away on the ship.

* * *

 **(A couple days later)**

It was late on Sunday afternoon, and Zed finished the final touches to his hair as he stood in front of the mirror in his team's bathroom. He took a bottle of cologne and sprayed it a couple times around his neck, before he set it down with a heavy sigh; he looked up again, this time to make eye contact as he silently thought to himself. His thoughts were disjointed, as he tried to juggle his many worries, but in the end, it only frustrated him more, as he couldn't put them in order. He took a deep breath and backed away from the mirror as he turned his gaze to his orange tie before he went to fix it; he shifted it a little to the right and tightened it so that it sat snuggly beneath the collar of his black shirt with white sleeves.

Once he thought he was ready, and his hair impeccably messy, he stepped out of the bathroom and into his team's dorm, and saw that the rest of his team had come back from intramural sparring, an extra credit weekend event. Cecilia had wanted to test Haiiden after his injury, to see if he was back in fighting trim, but Glynda stopped the fight short as she worried that he was going to tear his wound again, which was a rare sight to see in Glynda, and she was glad that no one else caught onto it, as it would tarnish her reputation for being strict. Zed also noticed that although it seemed Haiiden was fine, he did grimace in pain after as he sat down, however, everything was fine now as Vaughn and Haiiden got together with Cecilia for a game of cards. Haiiden reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of Harucodone, dry-swallowing a pair of pills.

"Well, I'm off," Zed announced, and made his way towards the door as everyone turned their attention towards him.

"Have fun, Zed. Don't scare her off on the first date," Vaughn remarked and a grin fell on Cecilia's and Haiiden's faces.

"Scare her off? Bollocks," Zed replied. He had a better, ruder reply in his head, but wasn't in the mood to say it out loud.

He waved farewell to everyone before he stepped out the door and closed it behind him, but before he left, he looked back at the face of the door. After his run-in with Blake on the stairs, it became a ritual that every time he left his dorm, he checked his door for the telltale mark that Blake said she would leave behind when she wanted to talk. As usual, there was nothing, and he chuckled to himself as he knew he shouldn't get his hopes up. She joined an Academy to fight Grimm, there was no way for her to have the time to search for Torchwick, let alone dig for clues.

He then made his way down the corridor towards Team CNBR's room, but he did meet with Team JNPR along the way, and for a while made idle chat before he continued forward. Before long, he was in front of the entrance to Team CNBR's dorm room and he raised in hand, ready to knock on the door, but hesitated for a moment; the other girls that he used to be with were a lot wilder than he was, so he worried for a moment as to how to conduct himself in front of Byeli. She was a lot more well-mannered, and he knew that he had to respond in kind.

To his surprise, the door to CNBR's room swung open, and in front of Zed stood Celise.

"Look who's here," Celise said with a grin, before Byeli quickly jumped in front of her and turned to her.

"Thanks, Celise," she said before she ushered Zed inside and closed the door behind him. For a moment, they exchanged glances and before long, they realized that neither of them were wearing anything too fancy, outside of their usual outfits. Byeli was the first to notice his eyes scrutinizing her, and she cocked her head to one side. "Zed? Everything alright?"

"Ummm, to be honest, I thought you were going to change into something more… fancy," Zed commented and scratched the back of his head.

" I could ask the same of you, but to be honest, this is just a first date anyway. No need to worry ourselves about formalities," she replied and smiled warmly at him. Zed felt a wave of relief wash over him, as he realized that at least one of his fears wasn't warranted. Zed continued to stare before he let his fox ears pop out of his head, which made the little Faunus girl giggle, then with a grin, he backed away and bowed, at which point Byeli reciprocated, and they both made their way down the corridor to the school entrance.

As they both walked down the streets, Byeli and Zed noticed how lively and how much more decorative the streets of Vale had become. Flowers, especially roses, were set up on lamp posts all along the streets, and the final touches to the signs that were hung to greet visitors were just finished. Shops were opened early at the influx of incoming tourists in the hopes that it would increase sales as the Vytal Festival came around.

Byeli marveled at the sight, she even compared it to the streets in her home kingdom of Mistral and how they were always decorated. They were ahead of schedule, so they decided to do some window shopping, where Byeli was fixated on the little trinkets and knick-knacks, Zed had his eye on a very particular wrist watch. They even stopped to observe some street performers from Vacuo that hoped that the tourists would also be fun and generous spectators.

" _The Vytal Festival was created to serve as a celebration of peace between the Kingdoms. As a remembrance of the armistice signed on Vytal Island at the end of the Great War, every two years, a Kingdom is chosen to open its doors to the world, allowing citizens from every corner of Remnant to meet and indulge in one another's cultures_ ," Ozpin once announced to his students, as they would soon be acting as ambassadors and representatives of Vale, as well as Beacon, because they would be sharing their school with the exchange students that would come for the Festival; as well as contestants for the coming Combat Tournament.

No truer words had been spoken, as Byeli and Zed weren't the only ones who marveled at the sights of Vale; even Zed hadn't seen Vale this beautiful before, and the amount of attention and media coverage wasn't enough to do it justice. The high class of Mistral, and the poor from Vacuo, none of this seemed to matter when they all came here and melded together as one; citizens and patrons came to enjoy such a momentous occasion, but oddly enough however, not many from Atlas were in attendance. While some citizens of Atlas had come over, they weren't many in number and made it feel strange, as it did miss that final touch to really make the Festival whole.

"Look who it is!" Zed heard and turned to see a group of people swarm around Byeli, many of whom took photos while Byeli nervously stood in the middle of the throng. "It's her! The Warrior Princess!"

Some of the visitors from Mistral immediately recognized Byeli and rushed in to surround her. The atmosphere was almost suffocating as even Byeli began to feel a little uncomfortable at the attention, but Zed had an idea. He inched his way through the group, and as simple as it was, it took a while as he reached through and grabbed Byeli by the wrist just as she had finished giving her third autograph, and pulled her out. With a smile, they both ran away from the large group, and left some of them quite confused while others saw what was happening and attempted to follow them, but the two quickly ran out of sight.

When they finally stopped, Zed checked behind him to make sure that no one was still tracking them, while Byeli covered her face.

"I don't think they managed to keep up," Zed said with a grin and turned to face Byeli, but was struck when he noticed that her face was covered. Her shoulders heaved up and down, and she took quick breaths which made Zed worry. "Byeli, you okay?"

At that moment, she lowered her hands to reveal that her eyes were closed but had a large smile on her face. She then began to laugh loudly and held on to Zed's arm so as to not fall over.

"That was so much fun!" She said, and continued to laugh, which made Zed smile and he felt a warmth inside of him as he watched her laughs slowly die down to sighs, until finally she managed to compose herself and stood straight in front of him. "Thanks for getting me out."

" Anytime," Zed replied and he looked down at the time, at which point, he shrugged and led Byeli down toward Little Menagerie.

* * *

Samsara was just finishing her morning duties at her new job in Vale in a small Dust shop, which was owned by an elderly rabbit-Faunus with big, floppy ears, who had just reopened after renovations following a robbery. Even though everything was brand new, she was told to sweep up before they opened, just to make it sure it was all ready for the day's customers. When she was done, the old man nodded his approval, and she approached the door and flipped the sign that hung in the glass which revealed the word 'OPEN' on the other side.

Immediately, many of the workers who contributed to the Festival entered, and bought various types of Dust that would help them in their work. Pyrotechnic technicians bought red Dust that would act as propulsion for the fireworks, along with a variety of colors for the display; even some officers came to buy Dust cartridges for their weapons, just for security. It was at that moment that she realized how important Dust was for everyone's lives: how every appliance, every automobile, as well as the electricity that they used was all powered by Dust. The realization then turned to surprise as more people came in, which made the store bustle with energy as they all looked over the assortments of Dust and bought them quickly. The work began to tax her mind, as she was the only worker in the store aside from the old man, and she tried her best to handle them all.

"Is it normally this busy?" Samsara looked over her shoulder and asked the old Faunus, who was on a step ladder and placed a couple of jars of Dust on the shelves before he turned to answer her with a shake of his head, causing his ears to flap against his face.

"It is busy mostly because of the Festival then?" She asked rhetorically, but the old Faunus nodded anyway. With a gentle smile, she went back to her duties and one by one, she helped each customer.

After the next few hours, the influx of people had died down, and Samsara finally found time to simply sit down and rest. She would occasionally get up again to help the next customer, wearing a fake smile all the while; her job here was just a cover, as she had her own reasons for coming to Vale. The bell on the door jingled as another customer entered, and with a heave she got up, but was suddenly surprised as a picture was forced into her face.

"Have you seen this girl?" someone asked, and Samsara was forced to scan the image and at first, she opened her mouth to say that the face was indeed familiar, but then she remembered when and how she had seen that face, and her mouth closed tight. As she regained her senses, she saw with clear detail, a girl with black hair, yellow eyes and a bow in her hair, which made Samsara's heart start to pump. Out of morbid curiosity, she leaned her head to the right to peek around the picture, and saw a group of three girls standing before her. One had a mane of long blonde hair down her back that seemed to glow in the shop's light, a girl wearing all white with a red collar who had a regal air about her, and a little girl in a red and black dress with red laces up the belly.

"Did you hear me? I asked if you've seen this girl," the blonde repeated and placed a hand on her hip as she stared at Samsara.

"I'm pretty sure she heard you, sis," said the little girl.

"And you did just stick a picture in her face. Rudely, I might add," said the girl in white.

"Look, I'm sorry; she has been missing for two days now, and we're starting to get worried," the blonde said.

"I- I'm sorry, but I haven't seen her before," Samsara lied, but something inside her panged as she knew that she had seen her before. If she told the girls how and when she had seen the girl in the picture, seen all of them, in fact, she knew that she would never be believed.

"Dang it, come on guys," the blonde said, while the girl in red and black nodded, but the girl in white rolled her eyes and stalked towards them.

"H- hey, if you give me your guys' and her name and how to reach you, maybe I can help if she comes around," Samsara said after them; she just had to get their names.

"My name is Yang, and this is my sister, Ruby," the girl named Yang responded as she also pointed to the girl in red and black, before finally pointing towards the girl in white with red collar and the scar over her left eye. "And this is Weiss."

"The girl we are looking for is our teammate, Blake," Ruby added.

"And you're from Beacon?" Samsara asked.

"That's right," Yang said, writing down a Scroll number on the back of a business card taken from a small holder next to the register and handed it to Samsara. "Call us if you see her?"

"If I see her, I'll be sure to let you know," Samsara responded after taking the card, and waved to them as they departed. "My name's Samsara."

" Ok, thanks anyways," Yang said before she exited the store, and after they disappeared from view, Samsara quickly checked the time and wished that they would close soon.

* * *

Zed and Byeli sat down as they finally made it to the tea shop in Little Menagerie, and Byeli still had a wide smile on her face after their exciting day. Even after all that entertainment, she was still a bit antsy but it began to die down, and all she wanted to do now was relax. They were sitting on the terrace overlooking the tables along the street, as Zed wanted to make sure that Byeli wouldn't be noticed by passersby, resulting in another mob like the one they had encountered earlier.

"I thought it weird that you would ask me out when your friend was in the infirmary," she said in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Zed replied, while he looked away to his right and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Honestly, I'm glad you did, and Haiiden seems to be doing well, too," she added, this time her smile softened.

"Yeah, he's tough, in more ways than one," Zed said with a sigh and relaxed in his chair while his expression softened and he smiled. He spaced out shortly after, and Byeli noticed and leaned in closer to see if he was alright, and almost jumped when Zed finally snapped back into awareness and apologized.

"What are you thinking about?" Byeli asked and tilted her head at him.

"Something good," Zed replied, and Byeli wondered what it was that he was thinking about; she leaned on the table with both elbows on it and her chin propped on her palms.

"Is it about Haiiden?" Byeli asked, and he nodded slightly.

"Of all the people who have ever put up with me, he has done so the longest," Zed replied.

"You both seem to stick together quite a bit, a lot better than most humans and Faunus. How did you two meet?" Byeli asked and tilted her head again. Zed, again, let out a long and drawn out sigh, as if he was happily reminiscing.

"Hehe, yeah well… We were both about nine years old, and I was being bullied along with my friends. It was a common thing, you know, humans kicking down the Faunus," Zed explained while Byeli nodded at the point he made. "It then became a frequent ritual with me and my friends to defend ourselves; bunch of stupid kids making up gangs to fight each other, all for the horrible crime of us Faunus not having the good sense to stay in Little Menagerie where the neighborhood kids thought we belonged."

As she listened, Byeli's smiled disappeared and she kept her gaze on Zed, not once breaking away. "Was Haiiden one of these friends?"

"That's the thing," Zed immediately replied and looked up with an amused expression. "He just came out of nowhere one day. We were outnumbered, and he jumped out of the shadows and started wailing on them with a wooden stick."

Upon mentioning that, Zed burst out laughing, but Byeli was the one who sat with a perturbed look; in her mind, she was genuinely interested and saw nothing funny about it.

"After the fight, we were all bruised and beaten, and he leaned down and offered a hand. I did hesitate at first, as he was a human, but he did help us, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and…" Zed paused and blinked a couple of times, as if he had thought about this many times and still tried to make sense of the event. "And I don't know. Something clicked inside me and I knew that I liked him, then and there. Although, we didn't see each other again, at least for a while, but then all of a sudden he showed up again a couple months later and jumped into the fray once more."

Zed paused, as the familiar waitress came by and greeted them, then took both Byeli's and Zed's order before she left with a bow. After a few silent moments, she returned with both of their orders in hand: fresh tea for both of them; while Byeli's had berry extracts in hers, Zed again had tea with a bit of Cognac. Byeli took a gentle sip, so as not to burn herself, and as she lowered the cup from her lips, she saw that Zed had a blank expression again.

"No matter how many fights we got into, no matter how many times we got beaten down, he always had my back." When Zed had finished, he looked down at his tea and brought it to his lips, but not before licking them. Once the tea had smoothly gone down his throat, he took another deep breath and looked down, this time his eyes flashed orange for a second before they went back to green.

"Which is more than I can say for some," he whispered under his breath, which went unheard by Byeli. She didn't want to ruin the moment, so she sat quietly as they both drank their tea. However, what did disturb the peace was the people she could hear with her fox ears.

"Finally she speaks!" Byeli heard, and she looked up to Zed as she thought that he had made a joke to break the silence, but he sat as if nothing happened.

"Zed?" she tried to ask, but Zed cut her off when he placed a finger to his lips, and kept his gaze down at his tea. Byeli tried to speak again, curious at his reaction, but only managed to move her mouth and no sound came out, while Zed watched the person who was talking; how he held a teacup with his blonde tail.

"Past two days you've been giving me nothing but small talk and weird looks." She heard the voice again, and tried to turn her head in the direction of the voice, but Zed stopped her with a slight grunt and a shake of his head; instead, he wiggled his ears at her at which point Byeli responded with a nod. As where Byeli had her back to the person who was talking, Zed could see the two clearly.

"Yeah, like that," the voice said again, and it took all of her self-control to not turn and see who it was. This time, she wiggled her ears as well, not as a playful gesture, but rather to position them so she could hear. However, a feeling lingered over her as she wondered why it was that Zed was eavesdropping.

"Sun, are you familiar with the 'White Fang'?" Byeli's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing the all too familiar voice of Blake, and her eyes reverted to Zed to see that he was looking straight at her; he then let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"Of course! I don't think there is a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them! Stupider holier than thou creeps who use force to get whatever they want! Bunch of freaks if you ask me!" Byeli found some amusement from this back and forth banter, although she still wondered who this 'Sun' was, but she immediately began to like his bold attitude. However, the question remained: how did he know Blake? Then there was a slight pause, where even Zed held his breath.

"I… was once a member of the White Fang," Byeli immediately covered her mouth to stifle a gasp as she heard Blake make this confession.

"Wait a minute! YOU were a member of the White Fang?" The question even rang her mind, as Byeli then turned again to Zed to see his reaction and was surprised to see that he didn't merely fail to express surprise, he didn't have any reaction to it at all.

"That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between the humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings," Byeli hung her head upon hearing this truth; not just because of her confession, not just because of how humanity treated them, but also because of what came after.

"And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people, and I was there. I was at the front of every rally, I took part in every boycott, and I actually thought we were making a difference, but I was just a youthful optimist. Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fires to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor, and the worst part was… it was working." Zed scoffed at Blake's words, which then caught Byeli's attention for a moment but her attention quickly reverted to Blake's story.

"We were being treated like equals, but not out of respect… out of fear," Blake finished. "So I left, I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress _._ "

At this point in the year, Byeli considered herself Blake's friend, and to hear that she spent most of her life fighting, in one way or another, made her want to cry. As if he knew her feelings, Zed then reached across the table and gently placed his hand over hers; as fellow Faunus, they knew what it was to constantly fight for who they were.

"So here I am: A criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help with a little, black bow." At that moment, Byeli couldn't contain herself and she just had to turn to look at Blake; she knew that she always wore the bow, but the thought that she used it to hide was too much, and just as her eyes were laid upon the bow, she saw it wiggle. There was a brief pause as all parties took in the information; Byeli swallowed nervously, and kept herself from saying anything.

"So, have you told your friends any of this?" Sun asked, and Zed immediately quirked a brow at the question, as she surely would have told her team, just as he did with HAVC.

"Well, not exactly; it just sort of came out by accident," Blake responded and Byeli immediately remembered how Blake reacted when she also stated that she revealed she was a Faunus by mistake. However, she knew the situation was different, and that only made the revelation worse.

"Well, the tea has been soured, so how about we just take a walk?" Sun asked and even though Zed couldn't see, a smile crept onto her face and she nodded. Zed watched as they both got up and paid the waitress as they made their way down from the terrace.

"Byeli, go back to the school," Zed demanded as he too got up from his seat, but not without picking up the cup one last time and took a huge gulp from it.

"What?" Byeli said as she also stood, but rather to block Zed from wherever he was going to go. "Why? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to follow them," Zed responded, nonchalantly, as he reached for his wallet and pulled out a cash card, not even bothering to check its denomination beforehand, and just tossed it onto the table. His eyes fixated on Sun and Blake as they left without noticing either him or Byeli.

"Zed, do you know this 'Sun' person?" she asked, but he pushed past her and began to control his pace; he so desperately wanted to run after them, but he wanted to hear more, especially since he hasn't heard from Blake in a while. Although they promised to avoid seeing each other, this conversation made him curious, and he wanted to see what would happen next.

"Zed!" Byeli whispered, which almost came out as a hiss and she stepped in front of him. "Do you know Blake?"

Zed looked down, and for the first time during this exchange, he showed a hint of emotion, one of sadness. As Byeli held eye contact with him, she remembered his own story about his upbringing, and the realization dawned onto her, and her eyes widened.

"Zed, were you also part of the White Fang? Is that how you know her?" Zed stood tall in front of her, but felt so small at the same time, he then took a deep breath before he silently nodded.

"Well," Byeli exclaimed, and swallowed before she looked down onto the ground. "Honestly, after your story, I did think that maybe you would have joined them, but it was mostly a joke in my mind."

"It's not. How Sun described them was spot on," Zed replied and looked up to see if Blake had gone from view, only to see that she just turned the corner. He pushed forward past Byeli again, but then turned as he walked backwards. "Please, don't ever tell anyone. And go home, Byeli. I need to see what happens next."

"Wait. I'm coming too," she said and ran after him, forcing Zed to give up, as he had already tried twice to get her to leave, but she stayed anyway. They quickly ran to the corner to catch up and peeked around it, but then quickly hid as they were now just feet away from Blake; she still walked with the Faunus boy, Sun, who walked with his hands behind his head.

"So, what's the plan now?" Byeli and Zed heard Sun ask with their Faunus ears.

"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed this much Dust before," Blake pointed out and threw her hands up in frustration, while Sun looked ahead for a few moments as he thought to himself; but Zed had to agree, as strangely enough, Blake did have a point, if they were behind the robberies, what would they be doing with all that Dust?

"What if they did? I mean, the only way to prove that they didn't do it…" Sun said, and for a moment he sounded unsure of the idea himself but decided to wing it anyway. "…is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it… and not find them there."

" _Not exactly the best way to word it… but a good idea nonetheless_ ," Zed thought.

"Right?" Sun asked, and hoped that he had gotten his point across.

"The only thing is, I would have no idea where that would be," Blake replied.

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas." Zed's eyes widened at this discovery and he inched closer to the corner.

"How huge?" Blake asked.

"Huuuuuge. Big Schnee Company freighter," Sun replied, while spreading his arms to further illustrate his point.

"You're sure?" Blake asked again, as she leaned forward to give him a harsh glance.

"Positive; she ship is probably pulling into port right now," Sun replied with a nervous grin, and without so much as a word, Blake began to walk away with a brisk pace and Sun followed behind her. Zed waited until they were out of sight again, before he then reached into his pocket, pulled out his Scroll, dialing a number.

"Hello? Zed?" Haiiden asked on the other line, with a tinge of surprise in his voice. "How is your date going? You need a buddy to drink with?"

"Mate, grab Cecilia and Vaughn, and meet me at the docks. Grab your weapons," Zed quickly demanded on the Scroll, and Byeli turned to him once she realized what it was that he was going to do next.

"Wait, why?" Haiiden asked.

"No time to explain on the Scroll, just get to the docks now," Zed demanded again, and quickly turned off the Scroll and diverted his attention to the white vixen beside him. "Go back to Beacon, Byeli."

"No," she responded and shook her head. "I'm going with you." She pulled out her Scroll and called Celise, telling her to bring team CNBR, fully armed, and meet up with HAVC to come to the docks, and to be sure to bring her rods from her locker.

Zed thought for a moment, and realized he wouldn't ever get her to go home. He had already tried three times, and each time she stayed at his side, so he shrugged and waved for her to follow closely, taking her hand in his as they followed Blake and Sun.

* * *

After an hour of staking out the area, it got dark, and Byeli and Zed were peering out of a window from a catwalk inside a warehouse that overlooked the docks. He heard a blip go off, as his Scroll received a message, and after inputting a message, he sent the reply; and after a few minutes more, someone could be heard ascending the ladder behind them as HAVC and CNBR joined them.

"Okay, what's going on?" Celise asked quickly, handing Byeli her rods, and Haiiden nodded in response as he approached Zed.

"Yeah, what's this about?" Haiiden reiterated but Zed pressed a finger to his lips and motioned for him to bend down next to him, and they both peered out the window.

"The White Fang might be here," Zed responded quietly.

"Torchwick as well?" Haiiden said with a frustrated grunt and he reluctantly looked out the window. However, Zed ignored him, as he was looked out intently while everyone stood in a line and looked out the window.

"The White Fang?" Celise whispered to Byeli just out of earshot of Zed, while Raine and Nadira all looked to Byeli with worried expressions. "Princess, what's going on?"

"Blake was once a member of the White Fang, and we followed her here" Byeli said, her eyes just as intent as Zed's as she continued to stare out the window. The silence among the teams was almost deafening, as the CNBR did not know how to respond to this revelation.

Finally, Celise broke the silence. "I wasn't even aware Blake was a Faunus."

Byeli then looked towards her teammate, and pointed at her own ears, at which point, Celise nodded.

"That makes a lot of sense, actually," she responded.

However, at the mention of the White Fang, Vaughn motioned a signal to Haiiden and he nodded in reply and Vaughn stood up and slowly unlatched the window; and just as slowly opened it just a crack and reconfigured his rifle into sniper mode. He remembered his training with his adopted father, and how he should never stick the barrel of his rifle outside of a window; so Vaughn got up and climbed onto the rails on the catwalk and pointed his rifle out the window, with the barrel still fully inside the building. There wasn't much light at this time of night, but there were some lamp posts that illuminated it just enough for him to see without his echolocation.

"Sorry to bring you into this," Zed quietly said.

"Well, you did say that if we ever got rid of Torchwick, then the White Fang's support would be shut down," Haiiden replied. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else."

"I got movement!" Vaughn whispered loudly, which made him sound hoarse, and he immediately threw a pair of binoculars to Zed, who quickly peered through them. "Incoming VTOLs! One nearby, and a few more on standby in the distance; Bullheads, from the look of them."

" _Strange,_ " Zed and Haiiden thought as the spotlights illuminated the ground further and revealed the Schnee family logo on the containers that held the Dust and the first Bullhead came in for a landing in a clearing surrounded by the shipping containers.

"They are getting pretty bold if they are willing to risk coming into Vale like this," Cecilia added and she turned to Vaughn to see how he was doing.

"More movement! Ground level, running towards the containers!" Vaughn exclaimed again and Zed quickly diverted his attention to what Vaughn was pointing at, and saw Blake run into the shipments before disappearing from sight.

"It's Blake," Zed said and lowered his binoculars.

"Who?" Haiiden asked.

"A bird that used to be a Lieutenant the White Fang; she goes to Beacon now," Zed replied and handed the binoculars back to Vaughn as he kept looking on to see what would happen next.

"Brothers of the White Fang!" Everyone heard shortly, as Blake's voice echoed and they all froze and lowered themselves so as not to be spotted through the windows. "Why are you aiding this scum?"

"Used to be?" Haiiden asked, although he knew what was going on in terms of the White Fang, he wondered what the story was with this new person. Zed had been careful to avoid mentioning his former affiliation with the White Fang in front of the rest of HAVC and CNBR, so Haiiden wisely chose not to mention it.

"She left for the same reasons I did," Zed whispered to Haiiden so that no one else could hear, then the tension in the air became thick, as Haiiden gripped the handle of his blade, Vaughn loaded a non-lethal magazine into his rifle and Cecilia reached behind her and grabbed the handle of her blade as well.

"Hold up, not yet," Zed peered over to see what was going on, only to see an explosion and that Blake was launched back into view and fell on her hands and knees. After what sounded like gunshots, and a few more explosions that resulted after, Blake reeled around the corner and Sun came into view as he jumped on top of a container and leapt down. After a few more gunshots later, someone in white flew into view and landed on his back. The figure clutched a red and white cane, Torchwick's signature accessory, and a very deadly one, at that, as it was loaded with explosive Dust rounds, and could be fired like a gun.

"It's him! It's Torchwick!" Zed growled and he got up and was just about to jump down from the window, until Haiiden grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Not yet, we will jump in if they need help. Besides, if he gets away, he will tell the White Fang where you are," Haiiden said.

"That's why we will make sure that he won't!" Zed exclaimed and was just about to jump out until suddenly a girl's voice stopped him.

"Hey!" HAVC and CNBR heard, and began to scan the area around them to see where it came from, but couldn't spot the voice. Whoever it was, Torchwick caught onto it first, and spoke.

"Hey, Red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" he asked, then shot towards a nearby rooftop and hit his mark as the shot exploded on contact. Shortly after, Vaughn spotted a little girl with orange hair who then jumped down from the rooftop.

"Penny?" Vaughn said loudly, and Cecilia grabbed the rifle from his hands and looked through the scope. Just as he said, it was Penny, but more surprising than that, was the numerous amount of blades that seemed to follow her and obeyed every command as she waved her hands from side to side to guide them. With quick succession, she cut down the vast White Fang forces that Torchwick had brought with him, but there were more on the way, as three more VTOLs could be heard from behind the warehouse, and they began to open fire on the girl; who easily blocked the incoming bullets as she spun her blades in a circle in front of her, then arranged them into a cannon, the center filling with light, all pointed at the VTOLs, before releasing a blast from it, and a pair of green columns of light shot out and cut two of them in half, leaving the third untouched.

Next, she shot several of the blades into a backup VTOL, and controlled the blades to pull it back down towards the ground; leaving the VTOL a flaming wreck upon the ground, the shipping container attached to the bottom of it rolling away unharmed.

CNBR and HAVC stood in shock at this display, and the question that was in everyone's mind was: who was is this girl? But their shock was quickly replaced with surprise, as the wreckage from the halved VTOLs spun in and came crashing down behind the warehouse the teams hid in, splashing down in the harbor, spilling the reinforcements that was meant to aid Torchwick as they descended towards the water.

"Come on!" Haiiden yelled out, and both teams jumped down the catwalk and ran out into the access road to meet with the White Fang. As they made their way out of the building, they saw that most of the White Fang were still able to fight, as they all got up and were mobilizing to aid Torchwick. However, the group of twenty soldiers stopped in their tracks once they saw that CNBR and HAVC stood in their way.

"Hey, mates," Zed said with a grin and he rushed in, along with his team. Zed went high, as he jumped and punched down into the first soldier's head, and as he landed, he finished off his attack with a quick spin to the left, and a kick with his heel into the soldier behind him. Vaughn backed away and climbed onto the roof of the warehouse to survey the battle, and as he made it up, he raised his rifle and quickly fired a round into the chest of a soldier that came to back up the two that Zed had taken care of. As support, Cecilia stood back and constructed pillars of ice to block incoming fire that was directed at her teammates, the perfect cylinders of ice created perfect cover for her comrades, while Haiiden went in to back up Zed.

Celise attached a metal ball to the end of her chain and quickly spun it around to gain momentum; she swung the chain low and tripped a group of soldiers; and those who managed to back away from her attack were swiftly knocked down by Byeli, as she butted the end of her staff directly into the chest of one soldier, then another.

Meanwhile, Nadira used her hand-to-hand skills to punch into another soldier repeatedly, her hands moving quickly as she repeatedly laid into her opponent, starting from the stomach as she worked her way up until she struck him with an uppercut, then brought her elbow down into his neck as he fell backwards.

With five enemies down in quick succession, the two teams advanced towards the remaining forces, with Haiiden leading the charge this time. He swung his blade towards one soldier, then quickly diverted his attention to another, as he began to juggle between the soldiers and blocking their incoming attacks while using any opportunity to take advantage of an opening.

Unbeknownst to Nadira, a soldier jumped down from a container and was just about to catch her off guard, until he was launched into the opposite direction by an explosion. Nadira turned, to see that Raine had his arm outstretched, with a lever action shotgun in his hand, and he quickly spun the gun and used its weight to pull down the lever to reload the next shot, while raising his other arm to fire another shotgun of identical design.

With a wave of her sword, Cecilia created a column of ice to block incoming fire that was aimed at Celise and Zed, then diverted her attention to the assailants and froze them in place, and Zed came in to finish them off as he punched through the ice and launched them into the containers behind them.

With rapid and calculated strikes, Byeli broke through the ice that held down another soldier, her strikes aimed to throw off her opponent and to not give him the chance to counter. After each attack, she quickly used the other end of her staff and alternated with each attack, until finally she spun to the right and swept her staff under his feet, and as he was in the air, she brought the staff down over his head.

Haiiden tired out the two soldiers that he kept busy, and when he noticed that their movements became sluggish and slow, he flipped his sword so that he held the blade in his hand and clubbed the first in the head. To avenge his comrade, the second one let out a battle cry as he charged Haiiden, but was quickly stopped as Haiiden pulled his arm back, and struck him in the nose before he spun to gain momentum and hit him in the head with the handle of his blade.

Now ten soldiers were down, and whatever Faunus remained now took the defensive as they waited for HAVC and CNBR to advance, but as if to set off the next phase of battle, a gunshot echoed through the air as another White Fang soldier fell down, unconscious due to Vaughn's non-lethal round. Rather than watch as their comrades were taken down one by one, the soldiers all spread out to divert the teams away from each other, except for one, as Celise used her chain to grab on to one soldier around the neck; the ball smashed into his face, and pulled him towards her before she finished him with a swift kick to the chest.

Nadira used her knives to deflect each incoming attack, as her opponent tried to break through her defenses, until finally, he slipped up, at which Nadira punched him in the throat and made him recoil backwards; she used the opportunity to put her hand over his face and slam his head down onto the ground. Cecilia finally rushed into the battle, and swung her large claymore through the air to quickly disarm an enemy that was firing at her, but the soldier was nervous, which threw off his aim. Once her opponent was unarmed in front of her, she held the blade with both hands and pummeled the handle into his head.

Haiiden took longer than usual to deal with his next opponent, however, as the wound in his side opened up again and was bleeding. Every movement he made only threw off his attacks as each pang of pain shot through his body, which gave the soldier breathing room until he found an opening and managed to knock Haiiden's weapon out of hand; it was as if the world slowed down around him, and he watched as the White Fang's sword swung through the air towards his neck, but was blocked by Zed, as he quickly came in with his karambit and quickly dispatched the enemy.

"I got your back this time, mate," Zed said through raspy breaths and he began to gasp for air, while Haiiden knelt down and picked up his blade before he placed a hand on his friends shoulder, all the while wishing he had his bottle of Harucodone. Afterwards, they turned their attention to the remaining soldiers, who were now backing away slowly and turned to run away. Both teams decided not to give chase, as the fleeing White Fang were no longer a threat, but also because sirens began to blare and echo as Vale's law enforcement began to converge onto the docks.

"Crap, we have to go!" Zed exclaimed, then placed a hand on Haiiden's shoulder and turned him around as they both began to run in the opposite direction from the sirens; Haiiden held his side as he ran, and Vaughn jumped from the roof to join with his team, followed by CNBR.

* * *

Once both teams had made it back to Beacon, they all sat down on the stairs of the amphitheater to catch their breaths, while Haiiden went inside to get to the infirmary and have his wound re-stitched.

"Ok, explain what just happened, Zed?" Celise asked, and stood over him with her hands curled into fists.

"We had a fun night?" Zed joked.

"You brought Byeli with you to stakeout some huge Dust theft?" Celise exclaimed and quirked a brow at Zed.

"He didn't bring me, I went with him," Byeli interjected and looked up at Celise.

"Why did you go with him?" Celise asked, any anger she had was replaced with worry. Byeli quickly peeked over at Zed, who returned a quick glance, before she turned back to Celise.

"For Zed, and when I realized that Blake was at the docks, I stayed," Byeli answered quietly and Celise took a deep breath and sat down next to her.

"Can't believe that Blake was a part of the White Fang," Nadira commented.

"We eavesdropped on a conversation she had with someone else, so that's why we decided to follow her," Byeli added, keeping Zed's secret, and all eyes turned to him, as well as Cecilia and Vaughn, but they were expecting that he would also reveal that he was a member, but alas, he didn't.

"Look, guys, I think it's best to not let anyone know what Blake was once a member of the White Fang; it could get her in a lot of trouble," Zed asked.

The teams all turned to one another to exchange a glance, and as if everyone all thought the same thing, they replied with a nod in unison.

* * *

Samsara slowly walked home for the night, a shiver crawling up and down her spine as she reflected on what she had witnessed at the docks.

"The pieces have been set," she said quietly to herself, a note of bitterness in her voice. "Everything is now falling into place."


	22. Vol 2: Chapter 5

Cardin lugged around a bucket and a mop, as he then turned the corner towards the next corridor that he would have to clean; his team followed behind him, as they all carried various cleaning materials with them. Their punishment for instigating a fight within the school was to clean practically every inch of the school, which turned out to be a nice break for the janitorial staff. Where they once enjoyed the illusion of being the toughest fighters in the school, they were now reduced to the laughing stock of Beacon, as fellow students couldn't help but stifle a laugh as they passed by.

Cardin's anger increased with each passing student, as each one laughed at him while the rest of his team kept quiet. It didn't help that Zed had humiliated him at the beginning of the year, then Byeli, someone he had beaten before, had managed to hold her own against her, even after she had been exhausted and drained; even Jaune managed to stand up to him, and killed an Ursa that he could not. He did take out his aggression on his team, however, as he began to admonish them for their own string of losses. Where once they managed to hold their own, they quickly began to lose more and more as the other students grew. In his mind, however, he didn't realize why he- and they- were losing so much.

"At least this is the last wing we have to finish, can't wait to actually take a nice, hot shower," Sky said.

"Seriously though, this was embarrassing," Russel commented, while Dove silently swept around him and slowly made his way down the corridor. However, he nodded at each point his teammates made.

"I don't want to hear any more complaining," Cardin replied, with a slight growl in his voice, and cursed himself as to why he had such weak teammates. "We will bounce back."

"Come on, Cardin, face it, there is just something we aren't getting," Sky pointed out and immediately recoiled as Cardin stalked towards him; almost forcing him into the wall as he stood menacingly in front of him.

"What do you mean? Are you calling me dumb?" Cardin growled.

"No man," Sky said, as he lowered himself to avoid Cardin's gaze. While the rest Russel watched nervously, "I am just saying-"

"Saying what? Tell me, because apparently I am not getting something!" Cardin yelled out, then grabbed Sky by the shirt and was just about to lift him into the air when someone grabbed him by the arm; still fuming, Cardin turned and expected that one of the instructors just happened to have stumbled onto them. Instead, he saw Dove, who normally squinted but now his eyes were open wide, and he was staring daggers at Cardin.

"That's enough." Much to Cardin's surprise, it was the first time Dove had ever spoken, but he shrugged it off and stepped forward towards him, making Dove back away. However, he then noticed that Russel was now standing behind Dove, and just like him, he was staring down Cardin.

"What, you want some too?" Cardin growled.

"Have you ever thought that maybe _you_ are the problem, Cardin?" Dove asked, completely ignoring Cardin's threat, which made Cardin stop in his tracks and looked at Dove with a confused expression.

"Yeah, every time we lose, it's our fault, but when you lose, we still get the blame," Russel added, and at that point Sky joined up with his two teammates; making it three against one.

"You are our leader. We followed you, and it has gotten us nowhere," Dove continued, and just like with Cardin, he ignored Russel's comment. It was then, that Cardin realized his situation, as each of his teammates stared him down and one by one, they turned against him.

"Come on guys, let's finish up and go to bed," Dove said as he closed his eyes and turned his back on Cardin.

" Get back here," Cardin said with a low growl, which wavered slightly as his team walked away from him, and left him alone once they turned the corner. He stomped on the floor, and turned to pick up the mop and bucket; almost breaking the handle as he gripped it tightly but then noticed someone down the hall. He squinted in the darkness, to see that Zed was staring at him and they held eye contact for a moment. Cardin half expected Zed to laugh at him, but instead all he saw was Zed giving him a rather strange look, one that could only be described as a look of pity, before Zed broke eye contact and continued down the hall. Cardin froze for a moment, as he then loosened the grip on his mop, and let out a sigh of defeat.

* * *

Even though he knew that had no new information to share with Blake, beyond the events of the previous night, Zed still felt that he needed to speak with her anyway, and strode through the corridors of Beacon's freshman dorm to search for her room with a brisk pace; he remembered that she mentioned that her dorm was right across from JNPR, so instead, he decided to look for theirs. When he stopped right in front of JNPR's door, he immediately turned and saw that there was indeed, another dorm right across from theirs, and quickly turned from side to side to make sure that no one was looking, and marked on the white door, a black 'B' right the middle of the entrance.

When his task was complete, he left just as fast as he had arrived and backtracked to find his way back to the stairs that lead back to the floor from where his dorm resided. As he approached his room, he closed his eyes and guided his hands through his hair to fix it slightly, and when he opened them, he noticed a black mark on his door in the shape of a 'Z'. For a moment, he stared at it, and thought that it was funny as he erased the mark from the door and opened the door.

" _I guess I am not the only one who felt we needed to talk_ ," Zed thought, although it was plainly obvious, and stepped inside.

He saw Haiiden at his desk, as he still studied over Oobleck's dissertation, although he had already gotten past the first two volumes and was now finishing the third. While the twins sat on their respective beds, they both looked towards the holographic "telly" that sat atop a nightstand that was set in between two of the beds, and watched the news, which featured a follow up story on the failed robbery at the docks, which even got the attention of Haiiden from time to time. Just as the reporter was finishing, it then switched over to the most famous anchorwoman in Vale; a woman with straight, light purple hair which complimented her name, Lisa Lavender.

"Thank you; here we are, witnessing the aftermath of an attempted robbery that occurred just last night in Tarren Harbor in Vale," said the female reporter, as a video image appeared next to her face which streamed footage from a VTOL that flew over the site, and at the bottom, workers tried to remove the two VTOLs that had crashed in the harbor, while there was the smoldering wreck of another downed VTOL in the clearing on the harbor. All around them was yellow tape that was set up to keep people out while officers investigated the scene.

"Some suspects have been arrested, who are allegedly related with the White Fang, however they were led by a human known as "Roman Torchwick", who is currently Vale's most wanted, and sports the highest bounty in Vale's history," Lisa continued, as a mug-shot of Torchwick appeared on the screen, which were meant to further illustrate her comments.

"And although the robbery did result in failure, which we will get into detail as to how that transpired shortly; the robbery, however, still left a victim, The Schnee Corporation, as the large Dust shipment has now been taken into custody as evidence." The camera then switched over to someone on the ground, who tried to get a word in from the Schnee representative, but the man was disgruntled after he failed to convince the police to hand over the Dust.

"This is an outrage! We already knew what these animals were after, there is no need to hold on to Schnee Company assets!" The man exclaimed before he stormed off and entered a limo before being driven away.

"Mr. Schnee, the president of the Schnee Corporation, however, has been very compliant in the investigation, has gone on record to say that 'he hopes that justice will be done, and that company assets will be returned once the investigation is over.'" At that moment, a photo that was taken during the press release of the incident, with President Schnee in the center, appeared on the screen and although, it seems that the President was compliant with the detective's requests to hold the assets for evidence, he did seem very agitated at the whole situation.

"That's my dad," Zed commented briefly, and pointed to the man, which made Vaughn and Cecilia squint to try and take a good look at him. In the side of the photo, there was an orange haired Faunus, in a really expensive suit that could barely be seen in the shot.

"Now, onto the details of the robbery attempt, we go live to one of the detectives who first arrived on the scene the day it occurred," Lisa Lavender continued, which made the photo disappear and snapped the twins back to attention.

"Here, we have an exclusive interview with one of the first detectives on the scene, Detective Takagi," Lisa finished, and the screen switch over to a full shot of a man, who seems to have eastern origins with red hair.

"Good evening," Takagi replied.

"So, Detective Takagi, the first question on everybody's minds is: how could the White Fang manage to sneak this far into Vale?" Lisa asked, and for a moment there was a pause as Takagi received the question, since there was a bit of a lag in communication to the remote van at the scene.

"Although the White Fang is made up almost exclusively of Faunus, we can't distinguish them between the normal populace, as they don't wear their uniforms or masks in public; that is, unless they are on a mission or are together in one safe area. So we assume they managed to sneak in with the help of Torchwick and 'acquired' VTOLs for the sole purpose of transport of the Dust for this mission," replied Takagi, stiffly and professionally.

"That is understandable. Now, what precautions will there be in the future to prevent such scenarios from happening again? I am sure there have been a few suggestions in the past," Lisa continued.

"Yes, however, they are unorthodox, as well as unethical, as these suggestions include assuming that all Faunus in Vale are associated with the White Fang, and act accordingly. Obviously, we are not going to label everyone a terrorist, especially since our duty is to protect both humans and Faunus. Additionally, profiling Faunus is impractical, as well as morally reprehensible," Takagi responded, this time in an irritated tone.

"Again, understandable, Detective; now, despite the fact that such a large force was sent to steal the Dust shipment, they were stopped dead in their tracks, without so much as a single container of Dust being stolen. How did that happen?" Lisa asked, for a moment she looked down as if to read a list of questions she had prepared on her tablet-Scroll in front of her.

"The robbery was stopped by Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, whom we questioned at the scene, but agreed to keep their identities anonymous, as they are still minors, as well as for their own protection, as there is a potential threat of retaliation from the White Fang. When questioned as to why they were there in the first place, their response was that 'they were in the in the right place at the right time,'" Takagi answered.

"Thank you for your time, Detective, I am sure you are quite busy, and VNN thanks you for answering our questions; have a good night and good luck in your investigations," Lisa concluded.

"And to you too," Takagi finished, and the live image was cut and Lisa was in the center of the picture again.

"Now, there have been some controversy in light of recent events: some stating that the Huntsman should intervene in the conflict against the White Fang, while others have stated that the Huntsmen should continue to do what they have always done, which is to fight the Grimm. More on that later during our 'Point, Counterpoint' segment," Lisa stated and the broadcast ended as the screen then went to the news stations logo, signaling the end of the news report. A commercial for Schnee Company Dust came on the screen before Vaughn pointed the remote at the screen and turned it off, the image evaporating into thin air.

"Apparently, we are heroes," Haiiden said, still not looking up from his studying.

"They were clearly not talking about us," Cecilia responded.

"It was meant to be sarcastic, Cecilia," Haiiden said with a slight growl, which made Cecilia back down. Vaughn's Scroll pinged suddenly, as he then received a message from Glynda to meet with her in Ozpin's office. However, the message specifically stated that he was to go alone.

"Ill be back guys soon guys," Vaughn said, just before he got up and left. "Have a good night."

Just as he left the dorm, everyone gave him their own good night wishes, as they would have probably turned in for the night by the time he returned. Zed then went to sit down at his bedside, and stared at the floor as he thought to himself.

"At least now we know that Torchwick is, in fact, here," Zed commented.

"Have you been able to look over those invoices that you nabbed?" Cecilia asked.

"Unfortunately, all but the contents are in some kind of code," Zed responded, and reached into his drawer and pulled out the invoices from beneath his clothing before handing it to Cecilia to look over. She quirked a brow as she scanned the information in front of her, as she took note of the type of cipher on the pages.

"I have never seen this kind before, but to be honest, I wasn't taught much cryptography from my adopted father, as I didn't have much aptitude for it. Although, Vaughn was taught a lot of that technical stuff, so maybe it would be better to ask him," she said with a heavy sigh, and handed the invoices back to Zed, who tucked them back into their drawers, but not without first taking a couple of pictures with his Scroll.

"It's okay, I already planned to ask someone else first anyway," Zed responded. "If that doesn't work, I'll ask him to take a look."

A t that moment, Haiiden popped another couple of tablets of the painkillers that had been given to him, which made Zed look at him with a frown.

* * *

Vaughn stepped in front of the doors to Ozpin's office, and knocked before he reached down towards the handle and opened the door. As he stepped inside, he saw that Ozpin was looking through some papers and then set them down as he looked up and noticed that Vaughn had entered. Nonchalantly, Vaughn stepped forward without so much as an expression, before finally stopping in front of Ozpin's desk and greeted him with a salute.

"Your sister isn't here, Vaughn. There is no need for such formalities now," Ozpin said with a soft smile and leaned forward in his seat, with his hands clasped in front of him. Vaughn hesitated for a moment, and slowly lowered his arm, before letting his entire body rest and even let it slouch; all the while, letting out a long, drawn out sight of relief.

"Thank you sir," Vaughn replied. "Old habits die hard."

"Of course," Ozpin responded and nodded.

"What was it that you wanted to speak to me about?" Vaughn asked.

"I have a few questions, but first, I wanted to ask if you thought CRDLs punishment was appropriate?" Ozpin asked.

"I am indifferent about their situation, but if you want an honest opinion, latrine duty seems fitting. People are suggesting expulsion, but they are good fighters sir, they just need to clean up their act… No pun intended," Vaughn quickly added, blushing at his turn of phrase.

"Of course, now, my next question pertains to HAVCs current status," Ozpin replied. "It has been a couple of months since Haiiden's and Cecilia's duel, and things seem to be going well, however, I want to keep a close eye on HAVC, so as this situation doesn't happen again."

"Everything is going well, sir," Vaughn replied and pulled up a chair and sat down. "They have come to an understanding, and are getting along quite well."

"Good, good," Ozpin commented.

"Now, we just need to not keep secrets from each other. Zed revealed his past with the White Fang," Vaughn continued.

"Which will remain a secret to everyone else, for now," Ozpin added.

"Of course, sir. However, we don't know much else about our leader," Vaughn commented. "I am sure you know."

"I do," Ozpin agreed, his face turned grim as he stared at Vaughn. "If you want to know more about him, then all you have to do is ask. I am in no position to reveal secrets about others."

"I know, but he seems reluctant, however. There are some things that I have noticed about him that have made me wonder…" Vaughn trailed off. "However, I guess the truth will come in time."

Ozpin relaxed a bit, he always appreciative of Vaughn's honesty when they spoke together. However, this was one of those times when his honesty would be put to the test.

"Speaking of truths, there was something I wanted to speak to you about," Ozpin stated and he pulled out some papers from his desk and set them in front of Vaughn. When Vaughn scanned what was on the papers, it was a requisition receipt from the school's quartermaster, and a report from the infirmary; it was at that moment that Vaughn realized that this was now an interrogation.

"You do well in your sparring matches, Vaughn. It was for that reason that the Glynda has decided to go easy on you lately, but I am curious as to why you need to restock on your ammunition when you haven't had any matches," Ozpin asked, as his finger traced over the bill, which included rock salts cartridges, Grey Goose, and various different types of Dust. Vaughn stared at it, without showing so much as a hint of an expression before he looked back up to Ozpin.

"Then there is Haiiden. If I recall, his wound was stitched when he was wounded, and likewise, the instructors went easy to allow him to heal," Ozpin continued. "Then he came back to have it re-stitched last night; apparently, he strained himself too much and it reopened his wound, according to the nurse."

Vaughn calmly sat in his seat, his breath steady as he waited for Ozpin to make his point.

"Now, I would have asked him, but like you said, he has many secrets of his own, and I know if I were to ask him, he would give me less than satisfactory answers," Ozpin said. "Now, I am not saying that he would lie. He has never once lied to me, except by omission, but he does have a knack for hiding the truth while still revealing only a part of it."

"And now, with the recent event at the docks, and while I am aware of the students who stopped the robbery, it has made me wonder." Ozpin sighed, as he then leaned forward in his seat and his eyes met with Vaughn's. "I've always appreciated your honesty, Vaughn, which is why I would hope that you would give me that respect, even now. Were you at the docks at the time the robbery took place?"

"Yes," Vaughn replied without hesitation or thought; he needed neither. Glynda kept a calm and collected gaze, however, she gripped the Scroll that she held tighter than before.

"If you can, explain the events that led you and HAVC to the scene. I need to know about the 'extra-curricular' activities that my students take on," Ozpin elaborated.

"It wasn't just HAVC, but CNBR as well," Vaughn admitted, which made Ozpin quirk a brow in surprise, and also shifted in his seat. "Zed was on a date with Byeli, during which they overheard a conversation with someone he said used to be in the White Fang with him as well."

Ozpin nodded, as he knew full well as to whom he was talking about. "Was it a fellow student named Blake Belladonna?"

"Yes, sir. He had overheard her and a transfer student speculate about a potential robbery, and decided it would be worth his while to follow Blake. That was when he called us to come, and only when we got to the docks did he explain that he has been looking for Torchwick, and was under the impression that he might be there. Similarly, Byeli also called for her team, and followed Zed, but she did it also to follow Blake," Vaughn continued, and there was a moment of silence as Ozpin sat in silent contemplation.

"There was an ensuing battle between CNBR, HAVC, and White Fang reinforcements. We were victorious, but fled the scene before the police arrived, not wishing to cause undue trouble for the Academy," Vaughn added without prompting.

"Thank you Vaughn, that will be all; I just the needed details from your perspective," Ozpin finally said, with a reassuring smile, which was what finally made Vaughn feel slightly confused but he shrugged it off and stood from his seat.

"I will take my leave then. Have a good night, Headmaster," Vaughn finished, and turned to Glynda and bowed in front of her. "Good night, Professor Goodwitch."

" And to you, Vaughn, thank you," Ozpin replied and watched as Vaughn turned to leave his office but kept silent until the door closed behind him.

* * *

The next morning, it was time for finals day to begin, and the seats in Ossea's classroom were packed a lot more than usual; even CFVY, who were normally in Oobleck's class at this time, were sitting together as the room erupted into discussions, each student trying to guess what was going on. However, in the corner of the class, CRDL could be seen sitting alone, while Cardin sulked in the corner. However, Haiiden noticed that Cardin was staring at him from across the room, but decided to ignore it.

Suddenly, Ossea stepped in through the door, and descended the stairs to its desk and set down a stack of papers, but then began to silently wait. A few minutes later, Oobleck then rushed into the room with his usual coffee high, with a trail of papers flying behind him as he zipped in.

"Have a seat, class," Ossea announced, and the room fell silent as they all obeyed its command and sat down. After a few more seconds of silence, whispers broke out, and then it was Oobleck's turn to step forward.

"Class, today we have decided to try something different," Oobleck announced, and pulled out a single piece of paper and practically slammed it onto the table. "Professor Ossea and I have been talking, and we have decided that it would be in our best interests to proctor a test that combines both of our curricula together."

At this revelation, the class went from silent whispers, and again, exploded into chatter as friends talked to one another about what this would entail.

"That's not fair!" exclaimed one student.

"Yeah, we didn't study for this!" blurted out another.

"Calm yourselves, students," Ossea interrupted. "The test will not have anything new, or anything which we did not cover in our classes. The reason why we decided to combine our tests is essentially because both of our classes have a degree of overlap in our curricula. Whereas Professor Oobleck's –"

"Doctor!" Oobleck exclaimed, which made Haiiden smile slightly.

"Whereas 'Doctor' Oobleck's class," Ossea continued. "Is history in its purest form, mine is social studies, with a hint of history and diplomacy in it; a joint test seemed like the ideal approach."

"Yes, our test has been especially tailored to the main subjects of both of our classes, which will seamlessly work together in tandem with each other," Oobleck said excitedly, as he sped through the class and dropped off a stack of five pages that have been stapled together to each student, before taking his place at the bottom of the class, alongside Ossea.

"You all have an hour and thirty minutes to complete the exam," Ossea announced.

"I would say good luck, but, you won't need it if you have been studying," Oobleck said with a grin.

Haiiden looked down onto the paper in front of him, as he scanned the contents he realized that it was double sided and all but the top of the first page was blank, which summarized the content of the exam. There was a single question which comprised the exam:

 **Conflicts of our Era:**

 **Consequences of the Great War, and its effects on the Faunus War**

 **#1: Describe the causes and consequences of the Great War, with detail into how those consequences fomented the Faunus Rights Revolution (The Faunus War).**

I t was then, that Haiiden realized that he was about to pass this test and that he would ace both Ossea's and Oobleck's classes in one fell swoop; a grin then fell on his face.

* * *

The day was now turning dark, and the orange glow of the receding sun was shining through the windows and into Beacon's dining hall. Haiiden groaned as he covered his face with his hands as he sat with his team and JNPR; they all sat and ate silently as they watched Haiiden squirm in his chair, almost as if he was nauseated. Next to him was a cup of coffee.

"Did you fail your test?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know, Jaune. I don't think so. In any event, we don't get the results back until after dinner is over," Haiiden replied through his hands, and reached to pick up the cup and took a rather large gulp.

"So what's wrong, then?" Jaune asked and scratched his head. At this point, Zed reached over and put a hand over Haiiden's shoulder.

"He put on his big boy pants and did at least a couple of weeks of non-stop studying. I believe he only slept a couple of hours at a time," Zed said with a grin, and Haiiden's response was to reach up and grab Zed by the head and slammed it down onto the table. A smile crept on his face as Zed laughed hysterically, which then got the rest of the table to chuckle.

"Well, that's good. I am sure you passed," Pyrrha added.

"Thank you, Pyrrha, however I will say I had a secret weapon, and it was a rather enlightening experience," Haiiden said with a soft smile, which he tried his hardest to hold through his fatigue, while Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "Besides, I wasn't about to allow myself to be held back for another year."

Pyrrha's smile immediately vanished upon hearing that comment. She was still quite upset about that revelation, as she sympathized with how Cecilia might have felt, and upon thinking of her, she turned her gaze towards Cecilia. She noticed that even Cecilia had a rather odd expression, but it was more out of awkwardness rather than anger.

"Well, he is trying hard to make up for it," Cecilia said, her voice a little shaken, as she tried to find the right words to express herself.

"Besides, it just means we get to hang out with you guys for another year," Cecilia joked, and it made any doubts in Pyrrha's mind disappear and she smiled warmly as everyone at the table chuckled again and nodded. The bell then rang, which signaled the end of the day and that the dining hall was to be closed soon.

"I'll meet you over at the board soon," Zed said as he quickly left the dining hall, leaving his team behind with JNPR as they all walked and joked together, except for Nora.

* * *

Zed made his way towards the school's library, but had to pass by throng of fellow students as they made their way to their respective classes to check their grades for the finals. On a normal day, Zed would have been just as eager to check his own grades, but today was not a normal day in his eyes; he had a special meeting that he just couldn't miss. He almost praised Blake in his mind for choosing this day of all days to call this meeting, as all the students would vacate the library to check their grades; but also since there was no more studying as the break in between semesters had now officially started.

However, as he stepped into the library, he noticed there were still a few students inside, but they were all spread out, and mostly used this quiet time to relax. He casually walked around the library, and half expected that Blake would come out of nowhere to talk, but as he waited, no one came.

"Perhaps she's checking her grades?" Zed thought, and shrugged as he had some time to spare. Even though the library would also eventually close, it was still two hours from now, and he could use it just a little. He walked through the tall shelves of books and pulled out a couple to quietly scan the contents and when he became disinterested, he set it up back into the shelf. He did start to feel impatient, as fifteen minutes passed by and he still hadn't heard anything from Blake; not even through his Scroll.

He began to think that maybe she might have been sidetracked, maybe celebrating with her team, or perhaps checking her own grades, but he didn't want to waste time here if he didn't need to, so he made his way out of the library. As he stepped out from between the shelves and into the open, he saw a flash of black, and he turned his head to see Blake sitting at one of the computers that were set up in a row along the wall. He took a deep breath, and made his way to her, and once he was a few feet away, his Scroll pinged; he gritted his teeth as he stopped in his tracks and wondered who it was at this time and reached to pull it out.

"Take one of the vacant computers, but not too close to me," was all the message said, and the ID was blocked, but he didn't need it to be told who it was. He did exactly what the message requested, and took a seat in front of a vacant computer that was just a few seats away from her, then plugged his Scroll into the computer; allowing it to interface with the the library systems, and a message showed up on the screen.

 **Book Bumblebee:** "I was beginning to think that you weren't going to make it."

Zed quirked a brow at the strange username, which he assumed was Blake's, and likewise, he decided to make a username for himself.

 **GuyFox:** "I waz here 4 15 minitz waiting 4 u"

Blake almost got a headache from reading that, and was appalled at how he wrote his messages. After a pause, another message popped up on her screen.

 **GuyFox:** "how r u"

 **Book Bumblebee: "** I am not going to speak to you until you write normally…"

Zed found her reaction amusing, let out a soft chuckle as he wrote his reply.

 **GuyFox:** "How are you?"

 **Book Bumblebee:** "I am well, thank you."

 **GuyFox:** "Did you pass your exams?"

Blake then quirked a brow at his attempt at small talk.

 **Book Bumblebee: "** Yes, Zed, I am not as lazy as you."

 **GuyFox: "** Hey now, I have been doing my fair share of work."

There was a momentary pause between them.

…

Both of them stared at their screens, as they wondered what to say next.

…

 **GuyFox: "** I know that you have been also doing your own bit of work."

At that moment, Blake froze as she read the message, but was confused to what he meant and decided to withhold any assumptions. However, she had her own guesses as to what he meant.

 **Book Bumblebee: "** You saw the news story?"

 **GuyFox:** "Yep, 'Huntsman and Huntresses in training stopped an attempted robbery by the White Fang'. It's all over the media, in fact."

Blake nodded, and was just about to confirm that it was indeed her and Sun that foiled the robbery; and just as she was about to write, another message popped up.

 **GuyFox:** "And I had front row seats to it."

Blake swallowed as she read the message and tightened her hands into fists.

 **Book Bumblebee:** How did you know where to find me? Or even where the robbery would be?"

 **GuyFox:** "Simple. We followed you."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "'We'?"

 **GuyFox:** "Me and Byeli, in fact. We overheard your conversation with that guy, Sun."

Blake then froze, a few seconds of pause went by as she collected her thoughts.

 **Book Bumblebee:** "I take it that means Byeli knows…?"

 **GuyFox:** "My team, as well as CNBR knows you were in the White Fang."

 **GuyFox:** "Don't worry. I swore them all to secrecy about you."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "You saw everything, and didn't come in to help?"

 **GuyFox:** "Hey, my teammate held me back; he's very persuasive, and secondly, it's not like I didn't help at all. Remember those two VTOLs that got cut in half?"

 **Book Bumblebee:** "Yes?"

 **GuyFox:** "Well, after whatever that laser was took out their VTOLs, my team and CNBR took out about 20 reinforcements that were headed Torchwick's way."

Although the girl named Penny, whom she had a brief encounter with after the fight, did manage to take out a lot of the White Fang forces, Blake admitted to herself that reinforcements on that order would have made things a lot more difficult.

 **Book Bumblebee:** "Thanks."

Zed thought to himself for a moment, as one of the things she said to Sun did linger in his mind.

 **GuyFox:** "Do you believe me now?"

Blake was taken aback by this comment, her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she formulated a response.

 **Book Bumblebee:** "What do you mean?"

 **GuyFox:** "You expressed that you still didn't believe that they would be responsible for the robberies."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "Just how much did you overhear?"

 **GuyFox:** "Enough. Blake, whatever you may feel for the White Fang is misguided. The White Fang that we used to know, is dead."

Blake sat silently for a moment as she read the message multiple times in her mind.

 **GuyFox:** "And you know it."

It was at that point, that even Zed couldn't write anymore; he admitted the truth the moment he left but he didn't want to reiterate it in his mind over and over again. He took a deep breath, his sorrow replaced with anger, as he eyes turned orange and he resumed typing.

 **GuyFox:** "Torchwick will pay for what he has done."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "Don't get involved."

 **GuyFox:** "You know, I thought about that, but the more stories I hear about the White Fang, the more I realize that I am already involved. I just need to fix a mistake when I let a friend be poisoned by this maniac."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "I guess this is a waste of time then. I called to meet with you so I can tell you that I ran into Torchwick, but I guess you already knew that."

 **GuyFox:** "Not entirely a waste of time. I do have some information, but I need your help."

Blake quirked a brow upon seeing his plea for help, and was taken aback when he sent a file to her. She clicked on it, and what opened up was what seemed to be an invoice, judging from the list of Dust products and weapons, however, she couldn't read anything else.

 **Book Bumblebee:** "What is this?"

 **GuyFox:** "When HAVC took out the cell in Mistral earlier in the semester, I found these in Leo's office. I believe them to be invoices, but I can't decipher this sort of code."

Blake stared for a few moments, the code was rather strange and realized just how far the White Fang has gone, not only in terms of their fighting ability but when it came to secrecy.

 **GuyFox:** "Have you seen this kind of code before?"

 **Book Bumblebee: "** I haven't, sorry."

At that moment, she heard a bang which almost made her jump out of her seat and she turned to see that both of Zed's fists were on the table; as he lifted his hands, she saw that he practically cracked the wood.

 **GuyFox:** "Sorry about that; a couple of my teammates don't know, either. Two of them have military experience, but one of them didn't pay much attention to cryptography. However, she has suggested that her brother might know a thing or two."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "I hope he can help."

 **GuyFox:** "Me too. If we get a break, I'll be sure to let you know."

Zed looked up to his left to eye the clock that was hung on the wall, little did he know, that Blake also took a peek at it.

 **GuyFox:** "I have to go."

 **Book Bumblebee:** "I have to go, too. I still haven't checked my grades."

Then:

 **Book Bumblebee:** "Take care of yourself."

 **GuyFox:** "You too."

Z ed was the first to stand up and leave, while Blake waited for a long time so that people wouldn't be suspicious. However, she also wanted to be alone, and she hid her face in her hands for over an hour, until the bell rang again, signaling that the library was to be closed.

* * *

Haiiden tried to peek over the large group of people, who were all crowded around a board, which showed whether or not the students had passed their exams; this school really did know how to pick them, as more students went away happy than not. The cheers from students sometimes rang throughout the halls, which made Haiiden wince a little, but also made him smile. When he finally forced his way through the crowd, he scanned through the posting while still trying to ignore the many students who tried to get past him and saw that he had passed. That was all he needed to know, but he also wanted to see in what position he was in, compared to the rest of the class.

Weiss Schnee

Pyrrha Nikos

Blake Belladonna

Lie Ren

Velvet Scarletina

Vaughn Sceryei

Coco Adel

Anders Ignis

Cecilia Sceryei

Haiiden Shiroi

…

He didn't need to read the rest of the list, although he thought it was a long shot to have made it to the top, but he was happy that he at least made the top ten. He made his way through the crowd again, this time it was a little harder as they were now moving in opposing directions. Once he made it out of the throng, he pulled out his Scroll, and quickly dialed for Zed.

"Hello?" Zed answered.

"Hey, where are you? The grades are posted," Haiiden said.

"Oh cool, did I pass?" Zed asked, and for someone who seemed to not care about his grades or his studies, he did sound rather concerned.

"Yeah, you did. I have no idea how you scored higher than me, though," Haiiden said with a huff.

"You know, I just let things roll, you can't stress out about these things," Zed responded, the concern in his voice was replaced with a hint of smugness.

"Yeah, yeah, I will see you back at the dorm," Haiiden finished and closed his Scroll, and began to make his way to his dorm; as he passed the corner, someone grabbed him by the arm which made him turn and went straight into the defensive once he realized who it was.

"What do you want, Cardin?" Haiiden asked, he knew that he shouldn't jump to conclusions, but with his previous experiences, he knew that he should always be ready with him.

"If I had wanted to hurt you, you'd already be on the ground," Cardin growled.

"Oh yeah?" Haiiden asked, and pulled his arm away, which even made Cardin recoil.

"I just want to talk," Cardin continued, the growl in his voice gone now. Haiiden didn't know how to respond, so he just stood with his mouth wide open.

"Excuse me?" Haiiden asked.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Cardin responded, his eyes shifting back and forth between Haiiden and the group of people.

"Okay?" Haiiden replied.

"Not here," Cardin said, almost nervously as he still kept his gaze on the congregation of people who were still eager to see their grades. Haiiden traced his line of sight, and what it was that Cardin was nervous of, and decided to humor him a little.

"Okay," Haiiden said with a shrug, and followed Cardin as he led him away from the rest of the students; both of them unaware that someone had noticed them, and after a few minutes, they entered an empty classroom and Cardin stood next to the door with his arms crossed.

"Nice place you led me to Cardin, secluded" Haiiden commented, to which Cardin responded with a harsh glare. "Nice place to jump me."

Although it was a joke, Haiiden couldn't help but look around, and noticed that they really were the only ones in the room. He kept that piece of information in his mind, and turned to Cardin and likewise crossed his arms.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Haiiden asked, and watched as Cardin's face expressed a variety of emotions, ranging from confusion, to anger, then finally, to defeat.

"I need some advice," Cardin said, and Haiiden's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting this from Cardin, of all people.

"Advice about what?" Haiiden asked, as he leaned as he looked up at Cardin. However, Cardin didn't reply at first, and it became obvious from his facial expression that he didn't know exactly how to proceed.

"There is apparently something I am not getting. My team is one of the few that is doing poorly academically, and where we were once doing well in the spars, we are now being beaten senseless," Cardin said, and gritted his teeth as he thought on it further, and Haiiden looked at him sympathetically. Which to Haiiden, was a strange experience.

"Look at that Faunus freak, for example –" Cardin began, but was cut off.

"Her name is Byeli," Haiiden hissed, and for a moment, Cardin froze and stared back at Haiiden, and sighed.

"Byeli, for example. I beat her easily the first time, but now she was able to take out one of my guys and was able to hold her own against me, even with her Aura depleted from a previous match," Cardin swallowed just as he finished and Haiiden nodded.

"That's to be expected, this school is meant to train people," Haiiden said.

"But we have been training just as hard as anyone, yet my team…" Cardin stopped himself for just a moment, and gritted his teeth as he took a deep breath. "…And I, are not getting anywhere.

"You want me to be honest, Cardin?" Haiiden asked, while he kept his gaze on him; he already knew the answer to Cardin's problem.

"Sure," Cardin said as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You are arrogant," Haiiden said bluntly, which caught Cardin off guard where he expressed surprise at first, but it quickly melded to anger. "You are bigoted, a racist, and a bully."

It was true, that he bullied people for fun, but when he heard what Haiiden said, especially after his own team left him, each point that he made stabbed him like a needle to the heart.

"You came here for the wrong reasons, you came here thinking that what you learned in Combat School was enough, that this Academy had nothing to left to teach you that you didn't already know," Haiiden finished. "You disregard your classes, you mock the ideas that the instructors present, and you don't coordinate your attacks when your team fights."

Haiiden waited to see what Cardin's reaction would be, but all he did was stare at the floor.

"Am I wrong when I say that even your team has gotten tired of it?" Haiiden asked, and Cardin's head shot straight up to glare at him.

"You wanted my honesty, and you got it, Cardin. If you want to grow, then you have to take this school seriously," Haiiden said, and Cardin's expression softened and he let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks," Cardin said and turned to leave.

"No problem, I was told at the start of the year to help in any way I can. Just don't disregard what I have told you," Haiiden said, and Cardin stopped at the door and processed the information, before responding with a nod, then left. Haiiden let out a sigh of relief, and when he likewise was about to leave, someone stopped him at the door and closed it shut. Instead of the beaming face of the cheerful girl that he had come to know, he instead looked up to see Nora's calculated stare.

"That was some impressive wisdom you imparted to Cardin," Nora said coyly.

"Yeah, well, I do my best to help," Haiiden replied with a shrug and a smile, however, it wavered the longer he met with her stare.

"You know, you never really gave an answer to us about why you left Beacon," Nora stepped down the stairs towards Haiiden, so that now they were face to face. "You don't know how long Pyrrha was upset about that."

"I thought I did, I said that I wanted to do good in my own way," Haiiden replied, now forced onto the defensive.

"We all want to do good in our own way, which was why we came here," Nora replied just as fast as Haiiden did.

"I don't understand what this is about –" Haiiden said but then Nora crossed her arms.

"Did you ever think that maybe YOU came here for the wrong reasons? That maybe you also thought the school had nothing to teach you?" Nora asked, and tilted her head. Haiiden was left speechless as he stared back at the freshman student, never expecting something like this from one of most cheerful students in the school.

"I am not blaming you. We all have our reasons for why we do things, but what I am saying is that yours were dumb," Nora continued. "Only after the duel between you and Cecilia did you really begin to change for the better."

Haiiden swallowed as he listened to what she had to say, and he felt that he should respond, but he didn't know how.

"Whatever happened that made you find your reasons, I am glad it happened, and I hope you don't lose sight of those reasons, and what you have gained because of them," Nora finished and she turned to leave without so much as waiting for a response from Haiiden. She didn't need any, and she left Haiiden standing frozen in the middle of an empty classroom.

* * *

Ozpin looked down onto Vale, just as he normally did ever since the preparations for the Vytal Festival had begun, and marveled at how much it changed. Although Vale was beautiful in its own way, it was how plain it was that made it beautiful, but sometimes Ozpin wished that the roses on top of the light posts would stay. However, his mind reverted to the person behind him, as he heard the clicking of Glynda's heels against his glass floor, which underneath housed the many moving gears that allowed the hands on the clock tower to move.

"I don't understand that child," Glynda said, as she had been eyeing the nurse's report for better part of a few minutes as she paced back and forth. "He knows the importance of the power of his Aura, and yet he does not use it."

Ozpin let out a sigh and turned to sit back down onto his chair, and watched as Glynda paced around the room.

"It can heal superficial wounds, even hasten the healing of more serious ones, and yet he doesn't utilize it. Why?" She stopped and looked over at Ozpin, and it was at that moment that Ozpin realized that she was asking him a question.

"Perhaps he fears it?" Ozpin responded.

"What does he have to fear from it? Our Aura is the fire in this world that drives us, that defends us from the darkness. Without it, we are no better than the Grimm," Glynda commented. "He of all people should know that."

"He knows, Glynda," Ozpin answered and Glynda immediately shut up as she realized what he meant. "He fears it because he watched as his own mother's fire burnt out."

"She should have waited until he was older to teach him," Glynda said, as she began to pace around the office again.

"That may be," Ozpin finished. "That's enough for the day, Glynda. Enjoy the break while you can, and don't worry too much about the boy."

* * *

" _It's that dream again_ ," Haiiden thought, as he watched the familiar room that he always found himself in every night when he went to bed. His childhood home, the hearth burning brightly, and as usual, the woman in white that sat on the couch right in front of it. As if he had just returned from a break, the scene played out again from where he last left off, where his younger self was playing with a wooden sword and his mom watched him. The somber expression was now replaced with a smile which only hid what she really felt. As usual, Haiiden was the unseen specter that stood in front of the two who were unaware of his presence.

"Haiiden, come here," she said and she offered her hand to the child and waited patiently for the boy to stop swinging the sword, and he turned and likewise, reached his hand out and grabbed hers.

"It's true, Haiiden, I am a Huntress," she said with a soft voice which was mixed with a warmth that Haiiden could feel. Even the child giggled a little, as the softness of her voice tickled his ears. "But do you know why I became a Huntress?"

"To fight monsters?" The boy asked, his voice tinged with confusion, but still kept a smile on his face that Haiiden would only describe as dopey.

"That was my reason, at first, but that was the reason I was conditioned to adopt. In the end, it was not my reason, Haiiden," She continued, while still holding the young boy's hand which made Haiiden slightly jealous.

"What was your reason, mommy?" His younger self asked, at that moment, his mother took a pitcher of water and dumped it into the hearth, and the entire room went dark. Normally, whatever humans had that could be considered night vision would kick in, but instead all Haiiden saw was pitch black darkness, a void that made him shiver.

"I will show you; Haiiden, I need you to close your eyes and feel," she said, and a few moments later, the child's frustrated grunts can be heard as he tried to listen to his mom.

"I don't think I am doing it right!" the little boy cried out.

"Don't think, Haiiden," she responded, and Haiiden stood frozen as he stared into nothingness, instead focusing harder on the words of his mother. "Feel."

At that moment, Haiiden let out a long, drawn out sigh, as he then closed his eyes and summoned that familiar feeling that he felt the first time he did this. He pulled at whatever warmth was inside him, the very fabrics of his soul, and when he opened his eyes, inside the void were the little boy and his mother. However, in the darkness, the woman shone with a dazzling light which made Haiiden wince. However, his attention turned to the little boy, who sat almost stupefied by what he was witnessing and looked up to his mother for confirmation.

"This is the light within all of us, Haiiden. This is why I became a Huntress," his mother said with a smile that was just as warm as her voice.

"It's so pretty," the little boy marvelled, and he raised his hand in an attempt to touch it, but only touched the fabric of his mother's shawl. "I want to fight for it too."

"This is my reason, Haiiden, and mine alone," his mother said. "If you want to fight for this reason, you must understand what it means. And when you finally understand…" she paused, and ruffled his hair.

"I hope you will never forget it," his mother finished, and this immediately grabbed Haiiden's attention as his head shot up with a glazed expression.

" _I don't remember that_ ," Haiiden thought and he looked down at the woman, to see that she was staring back at him now; the smile on her face replaced with a look of sadness, as well as pity.

Suddenly, her light flickered and died out, leaving them all bathed in darkness. "Mommy?" the little boy cried out, but was answered only with silence.

In his dorm at Beacon, Haiiden sat bolt upright, panting and heaving, his face and body covered in a cold sweat.


	23. Vol 2: Chapter 6

"Check in with Torchwick's progress," Ash mumbled to himself as he repeated the order that was given to him by Cinder. He was annoyed that he would have to play babysitter to someone he had only met briefly, but also that he had been called off from his own hunt; if anything, he thought it should be Cinder's job to personally watch these two.

Although the girl, Neo, was a valuable asset for relaying messages quickly or providing transportation with the help of her teleportation, and even if he did have a soft spot for her, nonetheless, she was not part of the original group. However, he did have a prior engagement to get to, so he begrudgingly trudged his way through a forest where the leaves were red all year round, the 'Forever Fall' forest.

As he continued to make his way through the forest, he began to notice that the further in he went, the more he noticed the familiar feeling of bloodlust and eyes watching him, but knew he could afford to ignore it; he continued forward until he finally reached a clearing where all around were tents that were set up as temporary shelter as the group that resided always relocated so as not to be caught.

All around the perimeter were White Fang soldiers who patrolled in pairs, or what Ash preferred to call it, 'packs'. However, what caught his eye was the smoldering remains of a fire that had been put out just a few minutes prior to his arrival.

He took a deep breath, taking in the smell of ash, as he then turned to eye the White Fang soldiers who were cautiously watching him. He found it funny, how most of them looked at him with curiosity, like how most animals would when they spot something, until finally, the curious looks were replaced with ones of horror; as he continued to walk through the camp while they eyed the dried blood that covered his normally soot covered suit, with two blades that rested on his back in the shape of an 'X', and what amused him the most was that, unlike animals, they did not run.

When he finally reached the largest tent, he peered in through the folds that were left open and saw Torchwick already in conversation with another Faunus, but not the one Ash wanted, as it was only the Lieutenant named Wolfsbane, that always seemed to accompany him. However, a group of guards preemptively stepped in front of Ash, blocking his path into the tent.

"No one is allowed inside at this time," one of the guards said to Ash, and Wolfsbane turned his head to look out the tent and saw Ash, but then turned his attention back to Torchwick.

"I have an appointment with your master, 'dog'," Ash replied and pushed through the two guards but froze when he felt something slam into his shoulder. Wolfsbane overheard the comment and turned towards Ash with his arms crossed, while Torchwick rolled his eyes at him as he remembered the first time they met and how Cinder was incensed at his arrival. To see how Ash was now riling up the Faunus, made him wonder if this was common with Ash.

"'Dog?'" The guard repeated, a group of soldiers now grouped around Ash and the guards.

"Yes, 'dog'. You are soldiers who follow orders like dogs, and he is your master," Ash said with a sly grin as he then turned towards the guard whose hand was on his shoulder, and stared at him with a wild look in his eye. However, the guard was too angered to notice and pulled his hand away from Ash's shoulder and went to grip his rifle.

"I don't think that's what you meant," the guard said, and the second one nodded in agreement.

"I don't care what you think," Ash said with a low voice.

"I 'think'," the guard said and stepped forward so that he stood just inches from Ash, and even though he was shorter that Ash, he did not step down. "That you meant to take a jab at us being Faunus."

For a moment, a flash of confusion washed over Ash's face, as he looked between the two guards and looked around at the soldiers of various Faunus species. As he thought about what the guard had said, his eyes widened in surprise and he recoiled with a gasp.

"Oh! I – I am so sorry," Ash said, as he raised his hands in front of him and turned to eye each individual soldier. "This is just a big misunderstanding."

The guard smirked, as he saw Ash cower and stepped forward again and tilted his head as he stared down Ash. Wolfsbane also smiled behind his mask, even Neo couldn't help but grin, however, it was for a different reason; while Torchwick was the only one who did not find any of this amusing.

"I – I am not a racist! I am totally for Faunus equality, in fact I fight for that, just as you do." Ash said with a sheepish smile, and a seemingly nervous laugh before he stepped forward to the first guard, and put a hand on his shoulder, and another over his heart. Any normal man would react the same way, one man against a group of eight rather angry White Fang soldiers who did not take well to a potential racial slur. "I would never hate someone over the color of their skin, or their race."

However, looks can be deceiving, as the guard smirked when he thought he had made the human back down, and recant his words. Ash's eyes shifted to each of the other soldiers, which they mistook for a nervous twitch. From behind, Wolfsbane still stood with his arms crossed and watched with his two guests; Torchwick tipped his hat and backed away slowly, while Neo really saw what Ash was hiding. The grin that he really wore behind that false, nervous smile.

"And you know why? Because…"

When the guard turned away for just a moment to flash a nod to his friend, Ash pulled him and head-butted him, shattering his mask; as the guard recoiled away, Ash stepped to the right, and with a quick turn of his body, he swung a left hook and punched the second guard in the jaw, knocking him out instantly.

Ash then reached behind him, and pulled out one of his blades and swung it under the first guard, slicing him behind the knee, and while his body was turned to left after his first strike with another fluid motion, he reached with his left arm behind him and pulled out his second khopesh.

Neo watched as Ash unleashed devastation on the White Fang soldiers while Torchwick let out a grunt of frustration. He turned away and threw his hands in air, and cursed himself, worried that Ash might ruin the already paper thin relations with the White Fang.

Wolfsbane watched in anger, which was also tinged with horror as he watched Ash continue his attack. When some of the patrols returned due to the distress call, Ash quick connected his twin khopeshes and began to fire blue and red arrows that he spawned between his fingertips.

He ducked down to avoid the first barrage of gunfire, then jumped and spun in the air to avoid the next, landing in front of another soldier, and swung his blades under his legs which launched him into the air; while in midair, Ash then brought down the other end of his blade down on the soldier and forced him into the ground. He then held out his palm towards the fire-pit, and closed his hand as the embers reignited and jumped into the air which cause the other soldiers to recoil.

Wolfsbane's anger now over-matched his fear, as he stepped back into the tent and pulled out his chain-sword and it came to life as the chain revved down the edge of the blade. He stepped forward to the group of ten of his best soldiers, as they surrounded Ash, who now knelt down over the first guard with his khopesh against his throat.

"Because whether you be human, or Faunus… just know that I! Hate! Everyone! Equally!" Ash growled as he stared down at the first guard. Unlike other soldiers he had fought, the many Faunus he took down all had fiery determination in their eyes, no fear of death, which mirrored their cult-like mindset; as the guard looked up at Ash with an equal fire in his eyes.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you all?" Wolfsbane asked, as he placed his chain-sword just inches from Ash's neck, who ignored him and stood up while the Wolfsbane followed his movements and kept his weapon just inches from Ash.

"If I really wanted to, I would have killed you all," Ash replied, ignoring the Wolfsbane's question, and the soldiers who surrounded him looked around and noticed that their comrades weren't really dead, as most just writhed on the ground in pain.

"Now, where is the boy?" Ash asked coldly, as he stared down Wolfsbane.

"Adam is away on a mission, the details of which are none of your concern," Wolfsbane responded.

"Doesn't matter to me," Ash responded and walked past the soldiers who surrounded him and walked into the tent to join with Torchwick and Neo. Moments later, all the soldiers dispersed and went to tend to the wounded, but not before they shot a glance at the back of Ash's head and silently cursed him. Ash turned, and eyed Wolfsbane as he likewise made his way back into the tent; his hand still gripped the handle of his weapon tightly.

"I was told to come here and ask how the relocation was moving along," Ash continued.

"The Miss doesn't trust that I can handle a simple move?" Torchwick asked.

"With your track record, I wouldn't trust you either," Ash said with a mocking grin. "Two of your robberies foiled by a bunch of children from Beacon."

Torchwick opened his mouth, and raised a finger, ready to defend himself.

"And judging by the description Torchwick gave, the most recent incident was courtesy of a White Fang deserter named 'Blake Belladonna'," Wolfsbane interrupted.

"Small fry; none of my business," Ash said, dismissively, to which Wolfsbane responded with an annoyed grunt.

"If that is the case, then why are you here? Shouldn't you be pounding your chest and killing somewhere else?" Torchwick commented.

"Unfortunately, I am not trusted enough to be left to my own devices, either," Ash replied, his attention now fixated on Torchwick as he glared at him.

"I can see why," Torchwick murmured, but looked up with his head held high as he twirled his cane over the crook of his finger. "Well, you can tell the young Miss, that everything is going according to plan."

"That's is all I need to know, but I won't be acting as your messenger," Ash replied and looked over to Neo. "I do have another meeting to attend, so if you would be so kind."

Neo smiled and twirled the parasol on her shoulder as she then tilted her head at Ash. However, Torchwick noticed the looks the two were giving each other and stepped between them.

"Too bad, I will need a ride out of here," Torchwick said, and he slammed his cane down on the ground, signaling that he wasn't going to compromise; while Neo peered around Torchwick and simply shrugged at Ash as she held her smile. Ash, likewise responded with a shrug, leaving Roman unaware that he was using every ounce of willpower to not fly into another rage-induced bloodlust.

"It's alright, it will give me time to think, anyway," Ash responded, and he turned to leave, and as he stepped out of the tent, he ignored the glares from the soldiers, who watched him leave. Most of them went back to their prior duties after helping the wounded, which was the only hint of evidence that he had been there at all.

* * *

Zed and Vaughn were alone in their dorm as they both were getting ready to go for a night out with another team. It was quiet between them, as Vaughn was usually not one for small talk and Zed honestly didn't know what to say. His mind was still fixated on invoices that he nabbed from their mission, and he desperately wanted to ask Vaughn for his help, but didn't know how to ask.

" _Hey Vaughn, can you help me decode these invoices so that I can find Torchwick_?" Zed thought in his mind as he humored how to ask him. However, he let out a deep breath as his thoughts then switched over to what Blake had told him before.

" _Zed; don't get involved_ ," he remembered.

"Zed, everything alright?" He heard Vaughn ask, and he turned to see Vaughn still ironing his uniform, standing in a white tank top; finally looking towards Zed through the corner of his eye. "Something seems to be bothering you."

"Yeah," Zed answered under his breath.

"Is it the White Fang?" Vaughn asked, but Zed didn't respond. "Torchwick?"

Zed swallowed when he guessed his thoughts and froze as he knew that Vaughn had more to say.

"You always look down when you think of Torchwick or the White Fang. It's not that hard to read, honestly," Vaughn continued.

"Yeah, actually, I wanted to ask you something," Zed revealed, and Vaughn picked up the iron and looked up at him curiously. "I was wondering if you can help me decode some invoices."

"The ones you nabbed from the mission?" Vaughn pointed out.

"Yeah, they might help me in finding Torchwick," Zed said.

"I thought you promised that you would drop this, Zed," Vaughn stated.

"Yeah, yeah, you are right," Zed swallowed, and again, took a deep breath in order to calm himself. "Besides, today is supposed to be a good night!"

Zed looked over with a soft smile, aside from his normal grin, and Vaughn smiled back in response.

* * *

Ash stepped into the familiar enclave, where he and his comrades had made their home. Strangely enough, despite his own insanity, he felt a hint of calm as he entered it and he immediately knew why; however, a pang of fear swept over him as he knew that he was going to ruin that soon enough. The citadel was empty now, as every member had now dispersed so as to fulfill their own objectives and their respective roles in their plans.

The hallway echoed with each footstep, each one ringing in his ears as he knew that his master would hear his approach, and was awaiting the reports from the moles that he had carefully planted. Although the intel would prove valuable, Ash knew that there would be one detail that he would not like.

At all.

Ash took a deep breath, as he stepped in front of two doors that lead into his master's private suite. The hesitation allowed him to calm himself and collect his thoughts, and a new wave of lucidity washed over him; he knocked on the door, and slowly opened it as he stepped inside, then closed the door behind him and waited.

"Welcome home, Ash. Come," the hooded man said as he reached his hand out and beckoned Ash; as Ash stepped forward, the calm feeling that he felt intensified with every step. When he stood at the side of the armchair, Ash put his hands behind his back and watched the fire. The sun shone brightly through the windows, as it was only the afternoon but the fire still burned brighter than even the sun that radiated into the room.

"Some of my seeds have sprouted, but some have wilted and died," Ash said.

"Unfortunate, that some would be blinded by this false hope," the hooded man responded. "Have those who have remained loyal reported anything of use?"

"None that would interest you I would think; however, Cinder and I will make use of it," Ash responded again, his gaze still on the fire as he tried to avoid looking at his master. His fists tightened as he knew it was a lie, and his master knew that too.

"What's wrong, Ash?" The hooded man asked quizzically, seemingly with a chuckle. "You know that you cannot hide much from me."

"I- I might have something that you need to see," Ash said, and pulled out a Scroll, spreading its sides into tablet mode and opened up a file that was only labeled as 'P.E.N.N.Y.'

The hooded man gently took the Scroll, and began to review its contents, taking a few moments to read over every detail, and look over every graph on the file that Ash had given him. All the while, Ash stood nervously, and began to feel a chill in the air as he noticed slight movements coming from his Master. His eyes darted from left to right as he continued to read over the information, and his fingers gripped tightly onto the Scroll.

"Ash, what is this?" The hooded man asked, a quiver of rage in his voice.

"One of my moles was working with an associate who had a hand in… 'that'," Ash replied.

"But what is it?" The hooded man demanded loudly, and stood up from his chair as he glared at Ash through the bottom of his hood.

"It was an experiment in Aura, from what I understand from the information given to me, it is artificial Aura," Ash reluctantly replied again, and at that moment, the hooded man threw the Scroll and it shattered immediately. Ash remained calm as best he could, as he maintained his posture, but grew wary as he saw the dark Aura envelop his master.

"Artificial Aura? Are they so arrogant that they think they can create something that was gifted to us?" The hooded man yelled out and began to curse to himself loudly.

"Our Aura is the manifestation of the power within us all! Received when a new flame is born! The fire that burns and lights the way in the darkness; it cannot be passed off and given like some cheap trinket!" the hooded man exclaimed, the dark Aura growing bigger and bigger, until he finally took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he thought. As he remained in thought, the Aura began to die down and he took his place back in his seat.

"You see, Ash? Do you see how when everything is at its darkest, that they still do not realize the importance of our fires?" The hooded man asked, but Ash remained silent.

"They do not deserve this gift," the hooded man continued, and for a moment, a grin fell on Ash's face. "They will pay for this travesty in time, but we must not let this control our emotions and our thoughts. We will continue as planned, and deal with this revelation accordingly."

"Of course, master," Ash replied and bowed. However, he was not dismissed, and stood patiently beside his Master.

"I have had dreams, Ash," the hooded man said, which then caught Ash's attention. "Dreams of our lives before we realized the truth."

Ash kept silent, and waited while his Master spoke.

"I dreamed of our friends, our comrades who fought beside us," the hooded man continued, and Ash lamented the words. "And our friends and comrades who have sided against us."

"Yes," Ash replied.

"It pains me that we must do this. I do not enjoy killing for the sake of killing, as you do. I have lost many friends, Ash. Especially those who have fought against us, as I still consider them my friends," the hooded man finished and he let out a sigh. He took a few moments to think again, before he lookedat Ash through the corner of his eye.

"There is a town outside of Vale, Mesteria. Destroy it," the hooded man commanded. "And when you are done, assist the White Fang at Mountain Glenn."

Ash took that as a sign that he was allowed to leave, and he turned towards the door and began to walk away from the armchair. He raised his hand for the door, and touched the handle, and just as he was about to pull, something stopped him.

"Ash, I have always wondered ever since you killed my friend, Snyegh," the hooded man said, his head slightly turned towards Ash's direction. "She had a friend with her, did she not?"

"Yes, but she was just another enemy," Ash replied, but didn't turn away from the door.

"That is the thing, Ash. Two well known Huntresses against one man who, for all intents and purposes, was not considered a Huntsman," the hooded man continued. "How did you manage to kill them?"

Ash smiled to himself as he recalled the memory, how sweet it tasted in his mouth and he almost licked his lips.

"I lead the Grimm to Snyegh's home. They did hear that I was coming, but the Grimm had surprised them, and managed to whittle them down just enough, and when they didn't expect it, I killed them," Ash replied.

"Interesting. I didn't realize that even you were not above such underhanded tactics," the hooded man nodded and turned to face the fireplace again.

"In the end, two enemies were taken care of and that's all that matters," Ash responded, then pulled the door open and exited the room.

" Indeed," the hooded man responded, just out of Ash's earshot.

* * *

 **(A day before the start of the next semester.)**

In the wealthier part of Vale, the restaurant, Candella, was especially busy as tourists came to try out the many sights and tastes of the Kingdom. The subtle clatter of utensils and plates was drowned out by the murmuring of the many patrons who sat and softly spoke with one another.

Loud laughter could be heard in the corner of Candella, as Team HAVC and CFVY sat together in a circular table, celebrating getting through the first semester without a hitch. It was a rather interesting day, while HAVC and CFVY were welcoming the students coming from the other academies, as per Ozpin's request, there was a giant food fight in the schools dining hall, which had rattled Glynda for a short while. They had met a few of the teams from Haven, especially a team called 'SSSN', where one of the members was a student named 'Sun', who was revealed to be with Blake when Zed called HAVC and CNBR for help.

However, the two teams, HAVC and CFVY, decided that they wanted to share some time with one another, as the last day of break was coming to a close; all while remembering the first semester.

"Dear God, I almost forgot that the first semester is always the hardest," Coco said, her eyes closed as she leaned her head back in her seat. Just having finished a nice hot meal, courtesy of Zed, who invited them over to celebrate, although was a little saddened by the fact that JNPR couldn't make it; they went to celebrate on their own with Team RWBY, from what he was told, so at least they were having fun. He also wanted to invite CNBR, but they already had their own plans.

"Yep, and now here comes the fun part of the year," Zed said, as he leaned into the table and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, missions during the first half of second semester, and then the rest is preparing for the Combat Tournament for the Vytal Festival," Velvet added.

"Smooth sailing from here," Cecilia joined in, and picked up her drink to quaff it, but Zed stopped her just as she put it to her lips.

"Cheers, mates! To a good year! And may we kick arse in the tournament! For Beacon!" Zed announced and raised his glass.

"For Beacon!" Everyone at the table answered, and they all pressed their glasses together, and they could have sworn that some people in the restaurant joined in as they shouted as well.

"'I had a different idea in mind for fun," Coco said, and looked to everyone at the table; her sunglasses were off now that she was indoors, and a grin fell on her face. "Guess who was asked to prepare the dance this year? Again."

"No way!" Velvet exclaimed.

"Yep! Now we have to plan something big this year, you guys!" Coco said and leaned into the table, with everyone leaning in as well with grins on their faces. "We will be hosting for the other Academies as well; it's literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"Yeah, you really blew it out of the water with last year's dance," Vaughn said while Haiiden nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, the club motif that you had was great. Glynda had a headache for a couple days after that," Haiiden said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but this year, I think we will be going with ballroom dancing this time," Coco said and sipped her drink through a straw.

"Ballroom dancing? That would sound like fun," Haiiden said softly, remembering the dance he shared with the blonde woman back in Mistral.

"Yeah, it would! In fact, Byeli and I could share a couple of dances ourselves," Zed stated and climbed onto the table; it shook as the weight shifted, while Yatsuhashi pulled his plate from off the table. Everyone stifled a laugh as they saw Zed dance with an imaginary person, his footwork careful so as not to knock over anything, although his heel did bump into something a couple of times.

"Zed, I didn't know you can dance," Fox said, clearly surprised by this.

"Yeah, well," Zed said with a sheepish grin, as he looked down at Fox. "I knew a girl who taught me how to dance."

"Get down, before the staff sees you!" Cecilia grumbled and swatted her hand under Zed, which made him fall from the table and stumble to the floor with a loud grunt. Some of the other patrons of the restaurant looked at them curiously, while others had expressions of disgust and contempt; the two teams ignored them however, as they were too busy laughing loudly as they watched Zed slowly get up.

"Ow, killjoy," Zed mumbled, and Cecilia gave him a harsh glare before shaking her head and hiding a smile when she put a cup over her mouth to drink.

"Yeah, now Velvet and I have to go out again and get another outfit for the dance," Coco said and pointed at Haiiden, who almost jumped from his seat when he noticed. "And you are coming with us!"

"What? Why?" Haiiden asked, a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

"Cus I will bar you from the dance if you come in dressed like that," Coco said with fires of determination in her eyes.

"You are still freaking out over this?" Haiiden asked, examining his clothes just as he had when they first went out into Vale.

"This is not freaking out, Haiiden," Coco said, with a perturbed look on her face. "Zed and I have been talking, and even he agrees with me."

Haiiden immediately turned to Zed as he sat back down, and Zed responded by raising his hands in the air, defensively.

"At least just for the dance, mate," Zed responded.

The night was still young, after their time at the Candella, the teams discussed how else they should spend their night. Cecilia and Vaughn positing the idea that they should all go out to the shops, and possibly find something for the dance, while Zed had a developed a buzz since he had used his fake ID for alcohol, and went to the nearest port to take a ride back to Beacon.

As he began to walk away, Haiiden though he would go with him, but Coco grabbed him by his shawl and tugged at him rather harshly, which made him choke as it pulled against his throat. "H–Hey!"

Yatsuhashi and Fox waved goodbye as they made their way back to Beacon as well, while Cecilia, Vaughn, Coco, Velvet, and a reluctant Haiiden stopped by some of the shops that were still open this late. Velvet marveled at some trinkets through the windows of one shop, while Coco stood with a smile on her face, nodding at every one of her comments.

"You guys go ahead," Cecilia said, as she stood outside of the door of a shop, with her hand on the handle. "I'll catch up with you soon."

The shop they entered had a variety of different clothes for formal occasions, with tuxedos and suits lining the walls, along with a variety of dresses that flashed with different colors. Velvet gladly walked around for a while to look for something for herself, while Coco dragged Haiiden along by his shawl. As her eyes flitted over the different suits, she would pick a few up and present it to Haiiden for him to look at, and had begun to get slightly annoyed that his only answers were either a shrug or a shake of his head.

Before long, she just grabbed a random white tux and forced it into Haiiden's hands, and pushed him into the changing room, leaving him with a confused look on his face. After he had accepted that he was not going to get out of this, he began to change out of clothes and into the tux. It felt strange to him, he had become accustomed to wearing nothing else, always prepared for battle; changing into something new felt foreign.

A knock on the door disturbed his thoughts, and he peeked his head out of the door to see Coco with both of her hands out; one hand held a black tie while the other had a red one. He didn't need to be told what she was thinking, and he took a few moments, with his eyes darting between the two ties before he reached out and took the red one.

"Good choice," Coco said with a smirk, and as Haiiden closed the door, Velvet appeared gleefully with a couple of choice outfits in hand, as they both began to ponder what would best suited for the dance.

Haiiden then left the dressing room, and the pair's attention diverted to him as they looked him over from top to bottom while he stood with a perturbed expression. He still wore the brown leather glove over his right hand, but Coco thought that could be fixed easily; his boots as well but what bothered her the most was that he still wore the clawed gauntlet on his left hand.

"Take that off for just a moment," Coco said, and Haiiden looked down at it for a moment, then looked around until he found a piece of fabric in a small corner of the store and draped it over his shoulder; the fabric fully covered his right arm. Vaughn watched from behind a couple of racks of clothing, and he raised a thumb into the air to signal his approval.

"I guess we can go with that," Coco responded, along with a dismissive shrug as she turned around and went towards the register. Haiiden went back into the room to change back, and emerged to see Velvet still standing with a gleeful expression.

"I can fix it up so that it fits you just right," she said as she took the tux and fabric from Haiiden's hand. Once they had finished their purchase, they made their way out of the store, and back to Beacon.

* * *

Zed groggily walked down the hallways, often catching himself as he almost fell into the wall; using his hands as a brace as he began to crawl against it, towards his dorm room. When he finally reached his door, his imbalance was shown further, as he began to scramble for his keys, but despite all of this, Zed wore a smile.

When he finally managed to open his door, he stepped inside and rushed for his bed, almost stumbling just as he made it, and was able to fall onto the luxurious softness; without even bothering to take off his shoes, he rolled onto his back and draped an arm over his eyes as he took in a deep breath.

The smile still adorned his face, as he thought about the day, for the first time since the incident at the docks, his mind was clear and he enjoyed every moment of peace. Although the room was silent, the distant sounds of the Kingdom of Vale could be heard through his open window, but he paid no mind; his mind was at rest, and his eyes began to feel heavy as he slowly drifted to sleep.

That is, at least until a loud buzzing could be heard, and he shot up bolt upright in his bed, startled by the sound; for a moment, he looked from side to side to find the source until he realized that the buzzing was coming from the Scroll in his pocket. Being a Faunus, his eyes were attuned to the darkness, so when he opened the Scroll, he squinted as the light blinded him.

As the burning sensation subsided, and Zed was finally able to open his eyes, he saw the familiar portrait that appeared which signaled who was calling; and just underneath the portrait was the name of his father, 'Vulpes Ignis'. After his finger missed the 'accept' command a couple times, he finally managed to accept the call and raised the Scroll to his ear.

"Hey, dad," Zed said groggily.

"Hey boyo; how are you?" The familiar, and boisterous voice of his father yelled into the Scroll, which made Zed pull the Scroll away, but he couldn't help but smile, as this was how his father normally acted.

"I am much better now, in fact," Zed answered, and to him this was true. He was already having an amazing day, and to receive a call from his father only made it better, as a warm feeling swept over him.

"Good to hear! I hope you don't mind if I check up on you?" Vulpes asked, considerately. "I know it might be a bit late, so if I got you in bed or something, I can call back another time."

"No! No, I can talk, in fact the rest of my team is away celebrating, so we aren't bothering anyone," Zed replied.

"Celebrating? Celebrating what, and why are they celebrating without you?" Vulpes asked.

"Celebrating the end of the semester and that we all passed; I decided to treat my team, as well as another team for the night, but I just got tired early and decided to head home for the night," Zed replied.

"You decided to 'treat' your team?" Vulpes asked, a hint of curiosity in your voice. For a moment, Zed sat silently, as all of his money came from his dad, so technically, it was his dad who was treating them.

"I hope you spared no expense!" Vulpes finally said after a few moments of silence, and he erupted into laughter, which further warmed Zed's soul.

"Nope, I went all out with the best restaurant in Vale, Candella," Zed responded.

"I'm impressed! Good! Good, you deserve it Zed, you all do. I am proud of you," Vulpes said with a chuckle through his voice; Zed was unable to contain himself anymore as his fox ears popped out of his hair and wiggled in the air.

"Thanks, dad," Zed replied. "How are you?"

"I am well, thank you," Vulpes answered, but then Zed heard a yawn from him.

"You tired?" Zed asked.

"Yeah, been working nonstop, and even pulling all-nighters," Vulpes responded, and Zed recoiled when he heard that. He knew what it meant when he was working this hard.

"Dad, is everything alright at work? What happened?" Zed inquired.

"Oh, it's just that President Schnee is not the in best mood, Anders, which means more work for me. You know how it is: If he isn't happy, then I can't be happy either," Vulpes responded, and Zed could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"Yeah I know how it is, but Dad, what happened?" Zed pressed.

"Oh, it's just- the White Fang stole another shipment that was meant for Vacuo," Vulpes said, reluctantly. "Which means it's up to me to work my magic and see how we can recover from this."

Whatever warmth Zed felt, had immediately left him and he pulled the Scroll away from his ear and pressed his hand against his forehead as he thought.

"Dad," Zed asked, as he placed the Scroll back next to his ear. "Can't they get someone else to do that? Every time something bad happens, they always ask you."

His father, a businessman for the Schnee Company, lived in Atlas, while Zed and his mother lived in Vale. He was transferred so that he could work at headquarters personally while he supported them by sending them money; he would visit four times a year, but lately the number of visits had gone down as the White Fang became more active.

"Anders, you know how things are," Vulpes answered with a chuckle.

"I know that they don't thank you for what you do," Zed interrupted, and he heard a sigh of exasperation on the other end. "Why do you work for a company that doesn't appreciate you?"

"I think they appreciate me, even if they don't outright say it," Vulpes responded. "I worked for a small Dust shop in Menagerie before they asked me to come and work for them, remember?"

"Yes," Zed responded.

"It brings in a lot of money, Anders," Vulpes pointed out.

"I'd prefer a dad who can work comfortably and see his family whenever he wants to," Zed blurted out and recoiled once he had realized what he said. "Dad! I am sorry, that came out wrong."

"It's ok, Anders, I understand," Vulpes responded. "I appreciate the opportunity to work for the Schnee's; without them, we would never have gotten out of Menagerie."

Zed didn't know how to respond after that, and all he heard was the breathing from his father on the other end.

"Anyways, boyo, I have to go, alright? Don't get into any reckless fights, but if you do, beat them down," Vulpes said, the tone in his voice changed to what Zed found familiar. The same happy and loud tone that he always heard. "When I am less busy, I'll call you again."

"Ok dad. Love you," Zed responded.

"Love you too, son," Vulpes said before a click could be heard, signaling the end of the call. Zed let out a sigh of exasperation, before he hid his face behind his hands. Before long, his eyes glowed orange in the darkness, and he reached over to his nightstand, pulled the drawer out, and took out the invoices.

* * *

 **(Although there is no name for the White Fang Lieutenant in the wiki, many have come up with rather unique names for him, and one caught my eye. After a message or two later, the creator of the name, "ZeroXSEED" on the SpaceBattle forums, as well as on FanFiction, allowed me to use the name.)**


	24. Vol 2: Chapter 7

Leaving behind a village where he had just completed a mission, Qrow began to walk away. The inhabitants were waving goodbye to him, and calling out well-wishes, especially a young lady in particular who had given a sly wink as he continued to walk; Qrow waited with eager anticipation until he was finally out of sight to pull out his flask, and took a long whiff from it before he downed whatever was left in one gulp.

Once the mouthpiece left his lips, he tilted the flask upside down and gave it a little shake, frowning upon seeing just one drop sprinkle out, and wished that he had imbibed it, rather than letting it fall uselessly to the ground below.

" _Time for a refill,_ " Qrow thought to himself. " _Then again, I need a place to stay, and to get some stuff for Taiyang._ "

He let out a sigh before he slipped the flask back into its hiding place, and put his hands in his pockets before he continued forward, with the lights from the village slowly growing dim as the distance grew between them. The sounds of people happily working were instead replaced by grass crunching underneath his feet, and he seemed to go into a trance; it was quiet all around after he dispatched a few roaming Grimm in the area; he had been hired for the job since the village's local Huntsmen were occupied with another mission.

Everything was calm; besides his footsteps, the only other sounds were the birds chirping, and the wind blowing through the trees. It should bring the village some peace, the dead Grimm should serve as a reminder to any other ones that might menace the village not to leave the safety of their own roaming grounds, but they were always watching, even when Qrow just simply ignored them. His disposition wasn't really the best at the moment, as the alcohol made his mouth dry again, and he hoped for another drink.

"Do my eyes deceive me?"

Qrow heard the voice, barely audible from the soft roar of the wind, and stopped immediately, his face showing no outward emotion, even though the newcomer did startle him slightly. Grimm were simple creatures to deal with, but a random person in the wilderness was something else entirely. He waited for another sound, a simple twig breaking, leaves crunching, anything that would give him any idea of where this voice came from.

"For once in your life, you aren't a drunken mess?"

Now Qrow was curious, most would immediately recognize that he was drunk, but to have someone refer to him directly made him wonder who this person was. However, it was the flippant tone in the man's voice that tipped Qrow off, and he immediately realized who it was.

"Are you going to show yourself?" Qrow asked in a gruff voice, which was tinged with annoyance. "Or are we going to keep playing games?"

"Awww, come now… Qrow." Qrow's eyes narrowed as he heard rustling from a tree to his left, and turned to see something fall behind some bushes; his tilted his head to the side, his hands were free, but he flexed them as he mentally prepared himself when Ash emerged from the bushes.

"Ah, I see you put your collar and leash back on," Qrow said with a smirk as he attempted to bait Ash. Although he had been strictly ordered not to engage, he had been hunting him for a long time and to finally see Qrow in front of him made him wish for a fight.

"Qrow, you wound me; I thought we were friends!" Ash responded with an insincere frown.

"I believe 'were' is the key word here, Ash," Qrow responded, to which Ash simply shrugged and began to circle Qrow. Qrow remained calm however, standing in place as he listened intently to the sounds of grass being crushed underneath Ash's feet. For Ash to come would only mean that he was next among his friends to be killed, although the idea of dying didn't seem so bad, he thought that he didn't want to die just yet. There was much more fun to be had, more ladies to meet and more time to get drunk.

But then the thoughts of his nieces flooded his mind.

"Look at us: we are all alone, in the woods, far enough away from any form of civilization for anyone to help you," Ash said as he attempted to shake Qrow, but he kept his gaze with no emotion tainting his expression.

"Don't worry; I am not here to kill you, Qrow," Ash said, his hands folded in front of him as if he was proud of actually showing mercy to someone.

"I doubt you'd be able to kill me, no matter how hard you tried," Qrow quipped.

"Maybe, I was never able to beat you in a fair spar," Ash replied, and looked down at the grass as if in thought. "However, that was a long time ago, and today, things would be far less fair."

There was silence between the two, as Qrow kept his eyes glued on Ash, while the other continued to look down at the ground; Qrow's hand slowly reaching towards the handle of his sword that he kept on a belt behind him, not knowing that Ash was hiding a grin as his own hand inched towards the handle of his own blade. A buzz interrupted them, and Ash's head shot up, genuine surprise in his eyes as he watched Qrow pull out his Scroll, and sighed as he read the message on it.

"I guess I am not the only one who's being kept on a tight leash," Ash remarked; every inch of Qrow wanted to crush the Scroll and attack, but he sighed in resignation and returned the device to his pocket while his hand let go of his blade and he turned away from Ash.

"You would really turn your back to an enemy?" Ash asked.

"I know you aren't so cowardly that you would attack a man from behind," Qrow responded, not turning to face Ash.

"Then you don't know me at all," Ash said with a smirk as he also turned away from Qrow. "I remember a scene just like this. Do you?"

Qrow stood silently as he waited for Ash; it wasn't normal for him to feel anger, or to be ticked off so easily, but Ash's constant cryptic talks were getting the better of him, especially since he knew what he was talking about.

"Ah you remember what happened last time you turned your back to me," Ash said, the smirk on his face grew. "How is your sister, Raven?"

With a quick, and fluid motion, Qrow turned as he reached for his blade, and with the momentum from his spin, he swung his sword while holding it with a reverse grip; when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing, only the groaning as the tree he had just cut down fell towards the ground.

Ash was gone.

* * *

Team CFVY and the remaining members of team HAVC waved goodnight to one another, as they split up to return to their respective dormrooms. Vaughn walked with a suit that he had bought that kept hung over the crook of his finger, and draped it over his shoulder; his outfit wrapped in a protective plastic covering while Velvet walked away with Haiiden's.

"Don't worry; I'll get it nice and tailored for you before the dance," Velvet said with a smile.

"Its okay, that isn't necessary," Haiiden said, wondering if all this was really required.

"We took all that time to find a nice outfit for you, and we will not let you go unless it's perfect," Coco said, and flashed a glare at him as she lowered her sunglasses; Haiiden swallowed nervously.

"Have a good night!" Velvet said as she turned to catch up with the rest of her team, while HAVC waved goodbye again.

T hey walked quietly down the halls, careful to not wake anyone who might be sleeping at this late hour; although some were probably out during the break. Haiiden then noticed a small bag that Cecilia held in her hand, but ignored it as they came up to their room.

They opened the door slowly, remembering that Zed had already gone back but then noticed a bright light in the room; it came from Zed's nightstand, and upon closer inspection, they noticed that he had fallen asleep reading something and all around him were the many pages from the invoices they had taken from Mistral.

* * *

The next morning, Zed was biting his thumb as he eyed Vaughn occasionally while he looked over the contents of the invoices. The dorm was dead silent, with Haiiden sitting on his bed, and Cecilia standing beside her brother. Vaughn stared intently at the pages, as he would occasionally flip them, and his eyes would then start to move from side to side again.

Zed then swallowed nervously, as he turned over to Haiiden, who looked back at him for a moment, before Vaughn stacked the papers on top of one another, and set them on the table.

"Well?" Zed asked.

"I think I can help," Vaughn said as he nodded to Zed.

"Oh thank you – so will you help me?" Zed asked with a hopeful smile, but faded as Vaughn continued to stare at him silently.

"Zed, I get that you want to catch this guy," Vaughn said as he began to frown and look down.

"More than anything!" Zed exclaimed, his breath quickening.

"But this is not our fight," Vaughn continued, his sister not looking up at Zed, who was now becoming worried; his eyes flashing between orange and green.

"Aren't we a team, though?" Zed asked.

"We are," Vaughn replied. "But that doesn't mean I have to get into business that isn't mine. I came here to become a Huntsman, not to fight the White Fang. I have done that before, and I have had enough of that, were I to be honest."

Zed nodded and sat down at the chair next to the team's desk, and the room was about to settle into silence again, before Haiiden had a thought.

"Why didn't you just leave the invoices with Mistral Intelligence?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure they would have found him by now."

"Because I wanted to find him myself," Zed replied.

"Since you feel like you are to blame for what the White Fang has become," Vaughn interjected, and Zed shot a glare at Vaughn, not expecting this from him. "Am I right?"

Zed took in a deep breath, ready to respond, but instead bit back his tongue. The tension between the two began to grow, but it was Vaughn who relieved it, as he was the first to exhale.

"Zed, you are not to blame for what has happened, in fact, it was bound to happen even if you weren't there. They were the ones to choose that path, while you chose to walk away from it," Vaugh continued, with Zed recoiling at each point he made, the fact that he rarely spoke unless he had to also add to the sting. "You have done the best you can, and now it has nothing to do with you, but this obsession is not healthy; as a friend, I beg that you drop this."

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Zed replied.

"So you would risk us all on some attempt at redemption, or revenge," Vaughn said, gravely, while Cecilia and Haiiden watched with silent frowns. "We have no stakes in this, Zed, you do realize that?"

"Yes, but you said so yourself; you are my friend, and I ask you as a friend," Zed replied. "Please help, even if it's just to decode the invoices. You don't have to come with me to find Torchwick."

The room went silent again as everyone thought to themselves, with Vaughn feeling a hint of guilt.

"Okay, I'll help decode," Vaughn said, as he turned and reached for the pile of invoices and picked them up again as he began to flip the pages. "I believe… that it should take be about a couple days to decode this."

"Thanks, mate!" Zed said joyfully, as he ran up and bear-hugged Vaughn, who responded with a nervous laugh.

"Well then, we better get started, we only have a week left in the break," Vaughn said, as Zed set him back down onto the floor; who wobbled slightly before he regained his balance.

* * *

Over the next few hours, Zed and Vaughn worked meticulously on the invoices, with Haiiden and Cecilia watching as Vaughn performed his task. Although there were some minor hiccups where Vaughn didn't make any progress, he worked even harder to make up for lost time.

With his gauntlet lying on the counter, Haiiden undressed in the bathroom, as it was it time to remove the bandages around his waist, as ordered by the nurse who had him patched; the wound had healed completely, although there were still some aches in that side, but the pain was mild enough that he was able to forget about it.

Cecilia, meanwhile, had changed from her military uniform and into what she called 'civilian' clothes; mostly comprised of jeans and a sleeveless vest that exposed her arms, which were toned from carrying and swinging her claymore. She wanted to freshen up just a little, so she headed for her dorm's bathroom, then opened the door and immediately recoiled upon seeing Haiiden, who hid himself by turning his back to her.

"Oh! Sorry, sir," she exclaimed immediately while Zed laughed loudly. "Shut up, Zed!"

"Its fine; just shut the door," Haiiden replied, and Cecilia quickly closed the door and turned around to notice the smile on Zed's face grow wider when he noticed.

"Like what you saw?" Zed asked coyly, to which Cecilia responded by rushing towards him and began to beat him down.

"Hey, hey! It was just a joke! We all live together; heck, I've seen you in your underwear!" Zed exclaimed, but still couldn't help but laugh while Cecilia began to beat him down harder and harder.

Haiiden could hear the commotion from the other side of the door, and sighed with relief as he looked down at his left arm and was glad that Cecilia did not notice the amalgamation of different mechanical parts that comprised his bionic limb that he worked so hard to hide; it looked almost skeletal, he thought as he scanned it again as he did his routine diagnostics on it.

He then quickly grabbed the shirt which sat on the counter, and put it on, pulling down on the sleeves to cover as much of his arms as he could before he then put on a pair of thin woolen gloves. The roughhousing ended once Haiiden emerged from the bathroom, and Cecilia stood at attention while Zed was lying on his bed; holding his sides while still giggling to himself.

He took a moment to tighten the gloves on his hands before looking up to Zed, who looked back and nodded, then Haiiden motioned for Cecilia to follow him out the dorm; once they both were outside, Haiiden closed it shut and crossed his arms as he looked towards her.

"So, what are we gonna do?" he asked.

"I don't understand, sir," Cecilia responded, and quirked a brow at him.

"It's going to take a while for them to decode the invoices, and we wouldn't be of much help; we would just be a distraction to them," Haiiden said with a shrug. "Come on."

He waved, and Cecilia followed behind him, eventually making their way to the school's docks to call in a transport into Vale. The ride over was quiet, as neither of the teammates spoke to one another; this was the first time they had been alone with one another since the school year began, and it felt awkward, considering what had happened earlier in the year. Although they agreed to put it behind him, there were some things still bugging her.

She then brushed the feeling aside as they finally landed in Vale, and she stepped off before following Haiiden, who almost left her behind as he continued to walk down the street. They both stopped in front of some old garage, but then he knocked on the door, which then opened to reveal a bear-Faunus marred by grease and oil, who seemed surprised to see Haiiden.

"Oh hey, Haiiden, what's up?" the man said as he cleaned his wrench with a piece of cloth.

"Hey, Smudge. Was just wondering if you still got my bike," Haiiden said with a shrug, and peered around the man's shoulder and into the garage; he looked behind him, then back to Haiiden before stepping to the side to let him in.

"Should be just in there," he replied, while pointing to the back of the shop with his thumb. Haiiden nodded and stepped into the garage, with Cecilia following behind him and she examined everything of interest inside the garage. It looked a lot smaller from the outside, but once she was actually in, she saw the full depth and breadth of the garage; inside were cars, many of which were shined and polished to a gleam, but were kept separate from the other vehicles that seemed to be either broken or were being worked on by Smudge.

Parts lay around in piles, old tires stacked on top of one another, even Haiiden took interest in a particular dirt bike which Cecilia had ignored, as it looked broken down. However, he began to pull it out towards the exit, but not before stopping in front of Smudge.

"Thanks for keeping it for me," Haiiden said, as he dropped some Lien into Smudge's open and dirty palm.

"My pleasure; I did tweak it just a tad," Smudge replied and stuffed the Lien into his pocket, noticing the disbelief on Cecilia's face as she finally realized that the bike belonged to Haiiden. "Doesn't look like much, but it has a strong engine. It should be good for another couple more years before you'll notice it starting to break down."

"Yeah? That's great; thanks again, Smudge," Haiiden said enthusiastically and pulled the bike out onto the street and started it up. The engine came to life immediately, and Cecilia saw a single puff of black smoke exit out of the exhaust before everything seemed normal. Haiiden then turned to Cecilia, and looked back to her, and waved for her to join; she hesitated for a moment before she climbed onto the seat of the bike and wondered as to what she would hold on to; she finally decided to just put her hands on his shoulders.

She then heard a little laugh escape Haiiden, to which her response was to punch him in the back of the head.

"Hey, don't forget these," they both heard, and turned to see Smudge holding up two helmets before he handed them to Haiiden and Cecilia. "Safety first."

Haiiden put on his helmet, and gave it a little knock for good measure before waving farewell to Smudge, then he sped off with Cecilia. Finally leaving the industrial district, they drove around the city of Vale to take in its many sights before stopping near the farmer's market.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at HAVC's dorm room, Zed and Vaughn sat together as they scanned over the contents of the invoices, which could potentially lead them to the whereabouts of Roman Torchwick.

"Anything?" Zed asked, mostly out of concern and hoping that he could still get to Roman.

"Zed, we just started," Vaughn replied with a hint of exasperation.

"Sorry," Zed said and swallowed as he looked over the invoices.

Vaughn smiled, and refocused his attention; he required silence and concentration, and he knew that Zed would not be able to help him with this endeavor. As he continued to scan the contents, he wrote down some drafts which displayed different placements of words and numbers, trying to figure out what kind of cipher it was.

"How does this work, exactly?" Zed asked, breaking Vaughn's concentration.

"Ummm, well, that is what I am trying to figure out, first of all," Vaughn answered.

"I thought you recognized the code," Zed pointed out.

"No, I said I could help," Vaughn replied. "There are different types of ciphers, a virtually infinite number of methods for disguising information, and I am trying out every cipher I know of so I can guess which one the White Fang might be using; I recognize the cipher in a broad sense, but every attempt I make at deciphering it does not work."

Zed looked down at the paper once again, and noticed the word placements in the sentences shown; though the only thing that was legible in the invoice was what was being transported, and in what amount; most of the phrases and sentences that were formed after it did not make sense on their own, nor did the header, where the address was likely to be found.

"Zed, I have to ask: are you sure these are invoices?" Vaughn asked.

"I think so," Zed replied and winced as he thought he had made a mistake. "Why, does it not look like them?"

"I don't know for sure; I still need to look it over carefully," Vaughn said with a shrug. "Whatever it is though, it's important enough that they would use cryptography to try and hide whatever it is."

Zed nodded, and sat silently as he watched Vaughn do his work; his eyes sometimes going up, then furrowing into frustration, which was almost amusing to Zed, but also worrisome.

* * *

Haiiden parked his bike outside of the market, and stepped off it before he made his way inside; the farmer's market being mostly comprised of wooden stalls which supported cloth canopies to shelter people from the summer sun.

All around, stalls were filled with produce that had been grown and brought in from outside of Vale, where many farmers also applied at the mission board to find Huntsman and Huntresses to defend them while they worked.

Cecilia watched in wonder, but also out of curiosity as she wondered what she might get as a snack, while Haiiden made his way towards a stall that sold a variety of fruits, and his eye caught a particular bunch of apples; just as he reached down to pick one up, he heard a familiar voice.

"As I live and breathe." Cecilia had finally caught up with Haiiden and they both looked up to see an elderly woman with green hair which was turning lighter at the roots due to her old age.

She squinted her eyes and leaned in towards Haiiden, who replied with a smile and looked down at the apples again before picking one up and tearing off a plastic bag that hung over the stall; he then began stuffing apples inside of it.

"Haiiden, is that you?" The woman asked, as she reeled back and clasped her hands over her mouth while Haiiden continued to look over the apples.

"Hello Ivy," Haiiden replied and smiled in return as he filled the bag with a few more apples and tied the end into a knot before handing it to her carefully with both hands.

"The last time I saw you, you were just a small boy still holding his mama's hand," Ivy said and took the bag from Haiiden and weighed them on a scale while Haiiden scratched the back of his head. Just like with Smudge, Cecilia watched curiously as Ivy and Haiiden spoke to one another, unable to add to the back and forth, as she was the outsider, until Ivy finally told Haiiden the total price.

As Haiiden reached for some money, Ivy's gaze then turned to Cecilia and she tilted her head as she examined her.

"Haiiden, who is this? A girlfriend?" Ivy asked sweetly, to which Haiiden jolted his head up and turned to Cecilia, and his eyes widened as he turned to Ivy and raised his hands defensively.

"Woah, no!" Haiiden said, and realized that Cecilia also had spoken up, and just like him, she had her hands raised up in defense. Ivy let out a giggle, as she reached her hand over her stall, her palm open to receive the Lien from Haiiden.

He gave her the money, completing the transaction and he turned to leave, but not without waving goodbye as he went back to his parked bike.

With Cecilia sitting behind him, Haiiden drove his bike on the roads along the cliff-side of the mountains which acted as a natural barrier for the Kingdom of Vale. It was mostly used for sightseeing now, as any other roads that lead to the other side of the mountains had been closed off for many years.

They made a stop at the highest point, with hundreds of feet of mountain left until they reached the top, but they were high enough to look down at Vale. Many of the tourists that were visiting were all up here with tour guides as they took photos of the Kingdom, while Cecilia and Haiiden sat near the edge of a cliff, with their legs dangling in the air as they enjoyed the snacks that Haiiden had bought.

"You seem to know quite a few people," Cecilia suddenly said, and Haiiden turned to her with a quirked brow. "Smudge and Ivy, I mean."

"I don't know them that well, they were friends of my mom when she worked as a Huntress," Haiiden replied.

"You know them enough to know their names, know them on sight," Cecilia pointed out. "I don't think you're just acquaintances."

"Well, I care about people. Although, I do feel bad for not having visited Ivy as often as I do Smudge; I haven't seen her since before my mother died. I guess I need to put some more time into it," Haiiden said with a shrug.

"Well, okay then," Cecilia said. "How did your mom know them?"

"Well, after my mom's original team went their separate ways, she worked with Smudge for a bit on some missions," Haiiden replied, and took a drink from a bottle of water.

"So he was a Huntsman?" She asked in disbelief.

"I know he doesn't look like much, but my mom was confident enough to entrust her life to him," Haiiden said. "He was pretty good with mechanical weapons, but now he uses that knowledge to help with vehicle maintenance."

Cecilia nodded, impressed by how many years of experience as a Huntsman could easily carry over to civilian life.

"Okay, what about Ivy?" Cecilia continued.

"My mom used to work by protecting her orchard; not many Grimm get too close to the Kingdom's walls, but some do get too brave, or stupid, and attempt to attack farms," Haiiden replied.

"And people need food, which warrants admission to the mission boards, especially since most farms are outside of the walls" Cecilia pointed out. "Back in Atlas, these missions were even paid by the military, although payment was relatively low."

"Like you said, people do need food," Haiiden agreed.

"Did Ivy pay your mom?" Cecilia asked.

"In apples," Haiiden said with a smile and bit into another apple, as he threw the core over the cliff. Cecilia chuckled and finished the rest of her snack then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black box and presented it to Haiiden; who stared at it for a moment and the first thought that came into mind was how it looked like one of those boxes that contained engagement rings.

"Oh Cecilia, I think it's a bit too soon, don't you?" Haiiden quipped; some of Zed's mannerisms were rubbing off on him, and Cecilia responded by punching him in the arm.

"It's for me, and for Vaughn," she exclaimed and opened the box to reveal two necklaces and both of them had charms at the end of them. One was a Star Cross, and the other a small dove in flight.

"They look pretty, but I have to ask about the charms though," Haiiden pointed out, and leaned in to get a closer look.

"It's to remember our upbringing, the Star Cross is for the medal given to me before my discharge, while the dove is a symbol of peace for Vaughn," Cecilia answered, and Haiiden nodded his head; the logic did make sense but it still felt wrong to him.

"So it is to remember your time in the military, then," Haiiden pointed out.

"Exactly," Cecilia replied, smiling all the while. "Do you think he'd like it?"

Haiiden swallowed nervously as he tried to formulate an answer, and Cecilia noticed his hesitation, and the smile on her face faltered.

"What? Too cheesy?" She asked.

"It's not that. I do get the idea of peace for Vaughn, but I don't think he would like to be reminded of his time in the military," Haiiden said, shaking his head as he looked back up at her.

"Why not?" Cecilia asked.

"Well, from what he told us, it sounded like hell to him," Haiiden replied.

"But it is also what made us who we are," Cecilia replied, defensively.

"Perhaps that is the problem," Haiiden muttered softly, just enough for Cecilia to not be able to hear him.

"What was that?" Cecilia demanded.

"How about this: what do you think a military signifies?" Haiiden asked and Cecilia said nothing as she waited to hear his point. "War and strife. Do you think he fights for that?"

Cecilia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out and instead let out a heavy sigh and looked down at her feet as they dangled from the cliffside.

"The dove charm works; it is supposed to signify peace, but if it's used to remember his time in the military, then it kind of defeats the purpose; if anything, those necklaces should be used to signify you two leaving that life behind," Haiiden replied, and frowned. "I'm sorry, but that's just my opinion, and I'm sure he, as well as some other people, would rather forget moments like those."

Cecilia then took a moment to think over what he said, especially on his point about forgetting.

"What about you?" Cecilia asked in reply trying to change the subject and revert the point to him in anger, while Haiiden raised his bottle to drink from it and finished before starring off into Vale.

"What about me?" He replied.

"Is there something you want to forget?" she asked, and for a moment, he did not answer.

"No. At least nothing in particular," Haiiden replied.

"What about your mom?" Cecilia asked but Haiiden continued to stare as he debated on whether or not not to respond to that question, lest they get to another argument for touching a sensitive subject.

"Let me just say that her passing is what made me who I am now," and that was all that Haiiden said, and the two continued to sit together but in silence.

* * *

The day had passed, and the sun was beginning to set, and the orange, yellows and reds of the last remaining sunlight shone through the window and into HAVC's dorm. Out of boredom, Zed was lying on his bed after realizing that he was of no help to Vaughn, who was working on decoding the invoices, meticulously.

"Okay, I think I am getting something," Vaughn said as he squinted his eyes while he replayed the ciphers in his mind, making sure that they were correct.

"Finally!" Zed said excitedly as he jumped off his bed and leaned over Vaughn to look at what he had found, although he needed Vaughn to explain what it was he was looking at. "What is it?"

In reply, Vaughn began to write down sentences while he looked back and forth between the pages and a blank slate of paper; with another page of possible cipher codes on top.

"If I am using the correct cipher, and if I am translating it correctly, then from what I am reading they are sending shipments to Vale, as well as receiving some materials and weapons in return," Vaughn said.

"Yes! I can finally get him," Zed said with a wide grin but then Vaughn leaned back in his chair and turned to Zed.

"Zed, I seriously suggest handing these over to the authorities," Vaughn said with concern.

"Why? You agreed to help, didn't you?" Zed asked.

"I did, but I am starting to believe that they can make much better use of this than we can," Vaughn replied. "They can catch him."

"Mate, you have seen the news, Torchwick is the most wanted man in Vale," Zed responded. "With all of their resources, they still have not managed to catch him."

Vaughn sat in silence, his face turning crestfallen as he thought over this and he looked back at the invoices, but only to avoid eye contact with Zed. For the first time, Zed noticed clear emotion coming from Vaughn, besides smiles and chuckles, he never showed anything so distinct.

"Mate, what is it?" Zed asked, and pulled up another chair to sit with him.

"I don't want to end up killing anyone if we go to meet Torchwick," Vaughn replied.

"Who says we will be killing anyone?" Zed remarked. "And 'we?'"

"Of course, we are a team after all," Vaughn said with a slight smile, but it quickly disappeared.

"I see, but you are also worried about who we are fighting," Zed replied.

"Exactly; they are still people," Vaughn replied. "Zed, although I only had one real battle with my father against the White Fang, seeing the death caused by people made me decide I wanted no part of it."

Vaughn then remembered the mission he had with his father before he disappeared, and before they were discharged from the military; he remembered how he looked down at the bodies of the White Fang prisoners that were murdered by the Lieutenant of another platoon, and how his sister plunged her sword into his chest.

"Yet, I still find myself getting pulled into these battles that have nothing to do with me," Vaughn finished.

Zed sat in silence and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"I'm sorry. I thought as teammates you would have my back, but I didn't think that I would actually be forcing you into a conflict that doesn't concern you. My revenge doesn't involve you either," Zed responded.

"It is fine, Zed. Honestly, I know that you would help me if I ever needed it, so in return I will follow you into battle; on the front lines or in the back as support," Vaughn said and smiled.

"Thank you," Zed replied. "I promise, if we take out Torchwick, it should deal a lethal blow to the White Fang's support, and we won't have to worry about them anymore."

"I hope so," Vaughn replied, and at that moment, the door to their dorm opened behind them, and Cecilia and Haiiden stepped into the dorm. Although they were out in the sun all day, instead of being cooped up in the room out of boredom, they did not look well and they immediately headed for their respective beds.

Zed and Vaughn looked back to one another, and shrugged as they each decided that it was best to call it a night as well.

* * *

The next morning, with renewed energy, but also with a strange sense of determination, Vaughn went back to working on the invoices again. Zed and Haiiden went with JNPR to eat together, while Cecilia slept in as she had been unable to sleep during the night, as she thought about the discussion she had had with Haiiden the day before.

When she finally got up, she freshened herself for the day, and sat next to her brother; she tried to banish the thoughts of what Haiiden had said the day before but the thought still lingered in her mind.

"Hey Vaughn, you know what today is?" she asked him, in an attempt to get his thoughts on the subject, but Vaughn was so engrossed on his work that he didn't realize that Cecilia was talking to him until she nudged him.

"Hmm? What?" he responded, his eyes blinking when he finally became aware of her presence.

"It's the day that dad took us in," Cecilia said and smiled while Vaughn thought for a moment before turning back to his work, a smile appearing on his face.

"Is it really today?" he asked, his hands moved as he began to write down sentences after deciphering them.

"Mhm, I was hoping to visit our home in Atlas, but I don't think we would have the time to go there and come back before the next semester starts," Cecilia responded. "So instead, I was hoping to commemorate that day in another way."

" _The day we were also brought into the military,"_ Vaughn thought, but kept silent as he knew how much she respected their father; although he respected him too, sometimes he felt he hated him.

"Yeah, sure," Vaughn replied, after he turned his head to face Cecilia, to which he saw an excitement flood over her as she reached into her pocket and presented a box to him. When she opened it, he saw that inside were two necklaces, each with its own charm at the end, and she quickly grabbed the one with a charm that he recognized; it was the Star Cross that she received when they were discharged.

"This one is for you," she said and she handed the second necklace with what looked like a dove. Vaughn stared at it for a few moments as he didn't know what to say.

"A little cheesy, don't you think?" Vaughn asked, although it came out as a joke, it wasn't to him. She nudged him in the shoulder lightly and waited with anticipation as she watched Vaughn intently; before long he finally placed the necklace around his head but tucked it into his shirt while Cecilia wore hers proudly above her clothing.

* * *

HAVC all sat in a circle once the afternoon had hit, and Vaughn decided to take a quick break from his work. He was close to deciphering the invoices, but now some tensions grew inside the dorm as Zed revealed that Vaughn would be helping him, and he had asked Cecilia and Haiiden to come along.

"Is it true, Vaughn?" Cecilia asked.

"Yes, as much as I don't want to," he replied. "But he _is_ our teammate."

Cecilia looked down and scratched the back of her head in response, then let out a sigh.

"So that means two votes on the side of catching this guy," Haiiden responded.

"I'd understand if you don't want to," Zed replied. "I have pulled you guys along enough as it is."

"Yeah, well," Haiiden interrupted. "I already went with you twice; what is one more time?"

Zed grinned upon hearing this and saw that Cecilia got up from her bed and joined Vaughn at his side.

"Vaughn and I have always fought together; I don't like this, but it is better than sitting here and worrying that he'll end up hurt," Cecilia said, and Vaughn then felt a little warm inside.

"Well, it won't matter unless I find out where they are hiding!" Vaughn exclaimed as he got up to turn his chair to his desk and sat down; everyone agreed and all sat down on their beds and waited silently for Vaughn to finish his work, which was nearly done.

A couple more minutes passed by, as Vaughn quickly wrote down the remaining ciphers and did a final read of the information to make sure it is coherent and that it had no mistakes.

"Got it," Vaughn announced and everyone sat up on the edge of their seats as they waited to hear where Torchwick is located. "7918 South 3rd Street, Warehouse B1, in the industrial district."

"What are we waiting for?" Zed asked and immediately jumped to his feet.

"We need to come up with a plan of attack first," Cecilia interjected.

"What plan do we need? Just go in there and kick some arse," Zed replied.

"Torchwick has managed to evade the authorities for this long, Zed," Haiiden joined. "I agree that we need to plan this carefully before going at him."

Zed relented and sat down on his bed as the team huddled together to form a plan; agreeing that it would be best to go at night before all sitting down to prepare their weapons.

* * *

Roman Torchwick twirled his cane in his hand as he strode back and forth inside Warehouse B1, where over a couple dozen White Fang were helping to clear the warehouse and to move it all to a new location, and a goodly portion of it to their staging area in Mountain Glenn. Roman urged that the number of soldiers sent be low, as to not attract too much attention.

However, it was obvious to everyone around that he was not in the best mood.

" _You'll know what you need to know, when you need to know_ ," he remembered Cinder say to him, when he expressed his concern for the plan he was partaking in. Almost frustrated that he wasn't let in on whatever it was she was planning, and was left to only follow orders.

"Do I LOOK like these dogs?" Roman asked Neo, who stared at him with a soft smile, her eyes showing concern for him, but then a loud bang rang throughout the warehouse; Torchwick rolled his eyes and turned to see that one of the soldiers had dropped a rather large crate he had been carrying with another soldier, with some of the Dust jars spilling out, a few shattered on the concrete. "That is coming out of your paycheck!"

The soldier groaned, not only since his pay was going to be cut, but because he had to follow the orders of a human. He salvaged whatever Dust remained and left the rest to blow away in the breeze.

"I mean, seriously, you'd think that I would be let into this master plan considering how hard I have had to work," Torchwick continued as if the interruption never happened, and Neo responded by changing her heterochromic eyes from green to one pink eye, and one brown.

"Then her kiddies have the gall to come in here and act like they run the show, and to do my work for me," he continued and twirled his cane again. "I didn't forget, you know, I was going to ice Tukson eventually."

Neo's only response was an apathetic nod of her head, and a mocking smile.

"You little punk," Roman replied and chuckled before he turned to continue watching the soldiers work. "Come on! We need to move this Dust this century!"

Just a few blocks away, HAVC slowly made their way to the general area of Warehouse B1; there weren't as many patrols as any soldiers that the White Fang had were quickly working on clearing the warehouse. Haiiden poked around the corner and examined the area until he noticed one of the outlying buildings had their lights on and had the markings 'B1' at the top of the door.

"There it is," Haiiden said and he leaned back into cover. Everyone did a final check of their weaponry, with Zed punching his fist into his open palm, and Vaughn checking his stock of Dust cartridges for his rifle and Cecilia checking the sharpness of her blade.

"Same plan as before: don't kill anyone unless you have to," Haiiden reiterated.

"And leave Torchwick to me," Zed growled and everyone nodded in acknowledgement and went to their positions.

Vaughn split off from the rest of his team, as his role was to be their spotter while also being the support sniper, so that no one uninvited showed up to complicate the situation; he peeked around the corner and saw that the rest of the team were already running before he examined the area around them.

There weren't many good vantage points for him to choose, as spots were either too low or were too open, or didn't give him a good view of the interior of the warehouse. He then backed away from the wall and turned to survey the area around him, finally spotting a large chimney where the steam from used Dust were exhausted from a nearby factory. Around the top of the chimney, there was a platform used for repairs and maintenance, with a ladder leading up to the top.

He made his way to the chimney and quietly climbed up the ladder; once he was up, he had a good view of the warehouse, although he was more than a fifty yards away. He looked through the scope of his rifle and began to survey the area before training it on his teammates, who had just finished dealing with guards outside.

Roman heard the commotion outside, and he and Neo turned to see what was going on, observing a group of three young adults entering the warehouse.

"I'm sorry, are you lost?" Torchwick asked with a quirked brow as White Fang soldiers began to assemble, most tired from the non-stop work. Zed stood speechless for a moment, realizing that the object of his obsession was finally in front of him.

Haiiden and Cecilia stood with their weapons drawn, but silently waited and looked over to Zed. Torchwick then snapped his fingers, which made Zed jump back into reality.

"I'm talking to you," Torchwick said, his voice a little gruff as he started to get slightly annoyed.

"I finally found you," Zed said quietly, but just loud enough for Torchwick to hear him.

"Yep, you finally did find me; who are you?" Torchwick asked as he spun his cane again before setting it down and placing both hands on top of it; whoever this person was, it piqued his curiosity.

"Every chance I got to look you, I looked, and now I've finally found you," Zed said again, lowering his head to look down at his hands and he tightened the gloves that he wore over them.

"Again, who are you? Did I rob you? Kill your family?" Torchwick asked again, finding slight amusement from this exchange.

"You really don't remember me?" Zed asked. "I was with the White Fang."

"Ummm," Torchwick replied, placing a finger on his chin to mock someone in thought then his spreads his arms to signal towards the dozens of White Fang soldiers around them. "Sorry kid, you'll have to be more specific, I am surrounded by these animals, you know."

Vaughn watched through the scope of his rifle, the exchange between Roman and his teammates; so far, nobody made a move, but his finger was on the trigger in case anyone made any sudden movements. He had offered to just knock out Torchwick with a non-lethal round, but Zed specifically mentioned that he wanted to catch him by himself.

"I'm going to take you down, Torchwick," Zed threatened, and his fox ears appeared from the top of his head, which made something ping in Torchwick's mind, which intrigued him even more. The threat made the White Fang soldiers raise their weapons, but Roman raised a hand and they lowered them.

"Really? I'd like to see you try," Torchwick said, letting his guard down for just a moment as he expected Zed to just wait but instead, Zed rushed in at the opportunity.

He kicked immediately, catching Torchwick off guard, at which point Neo strategically placed her parasol in front of Zed's head, who ducked underneath and continued towards Torchwick.

"It's okay, Neo, I've got him," Torchwick said, just after he stepped out of the way of Zed's initial rush; readying his cane as Zed quickly turned around and went for a punch, his eyes turning bright orange as he started throwing one punch after another.

Neo then turned to face Haiiden and Cecilia, who shrugged at them, and they too rushed in to attack. Haiiden was the first to swing, but missed as Neo just stepped to the side and used the crook of her parasol to guide Haiiden's sword arm; then Cecilia completed the combo by winding up for an attack and swung. Neo, for her part, gracefully ducked underneath her attack and spun around before kicking Cecilia in the back, which sent her sprawling to the concrete floor, while Haiiden spun around to gain momentum and swung for Neo's chest, forcing her to lean back to dodge and back-flipped before landing on her feet again.

Haiiden waited, his sword up, and his gauntlet raised and ready for another attack, but he waited for Cecilia to get up, while Neo only shrugged and beckoned them to attack.

While they fought, Vaughn watched and was wondering why the White Fang weren't joining in the attack; the situation didn't feel right to him, and his trigger finger itched a little as he began to feel useless, but he took a deep breath and calmed himself, remembering what he had been told.

One punch after another, Torchwick either managed to dodge, or knock the strike away with his cane but they began to a bit too much as Zed continued his assault. He was too accustomed to people with either ranged or melee weapons, but for someone to use his own fists meant he had to adjust his own stance and style but to do so in the midst of battle, while also dodging attack was not easy.

Eventually, the strikes got close enough for Torchwick to feel the displaced air against his skin, which served as a distraction until finally Zed got one good hit and sent Torchwick reeling to the right; Torchwick then used that momentum to spin and he stepped back to give himself enough room to use his cane and like a bat, he struck it onto the side of Zed's temple. Due to Zed's rage, he shrugged off the strike and continued to press his attack.

A blade then appeared from the top of Neo's parasol as she then swatted away Haiiden's assault, which caused sparks to fly in the air. Despite going against two opponents, she was able to hold her own against them without so much as breaking a sweat, and Cecilia was the first to notice that it looked like Neo was having fun.

Haiiden's and Cecilia's carefully coordinated attack, with which they would alternate between one rushing in for an assault while the other prepared to follow up, was then ruined as she got angry and rushed in to fight her instead of waiting for an opening. She wound up her strike, but Neo foresaw it and dodged just as it started to come down; when she thrust her parasol, Haiiden blocked it by pushing his sword in front of it.

"Neo, I might need some help after all," Torchwick called out, and she quickly jumped back, only to be replaced by Torchwick, who sighed in relief upon seeing two sword wielders. "Ah, this will be easy."

Haiiden got ready by getting low, ready to counter Torchwick's attack but realized Cecilia already went in again and groaned in frustration.

" _Don't let them get the better of you!"_ Haiiden thought, and he went in to help as he twirled his sword to build up speed and momentum and swing his sword, which scrapped along the length of Torchwick's cane as he blocked it.

Zed wanted to ignore Neo and just go for Torchwick but she kept blocking him no matter which way he went. Angered that he would not be able to get to Torchwick, his eyes continued to blaze orange, and he put up his fists to attack Neo, but unlike Torchwick, who blocked his attacks, she shrugged them off by re-directing his fists away.

After a few moments, they both froze and Zed pulled out his karambit, which made Neo nod her approval and smile as she beckoned for him to attack once more. He went in, swinging his blade at her to which she re-directed his lunge away, but when she counterattacked, he likewise re-directed her thrust.

First, Neo would catch his elbow with her hand and pushed him away, but when she tried to strike back at him, he used the curved edge of his karambit to hook around her wrist and guided it aside as well. Finally, they were both left in a dance where neither of them were able to land a hit on one another, as they kept re-directing one another's attacks and counterattacks.

Although he wasn't showing it, Torchwick was having quite a bit of fun, but something kept lingering in his mind the moment he saw the fox ears appear on Zed. He then fired an incendiary shot at Haiiden, who blocked it by reflecting it into the air with his sword, while Cecilia pressed forward again. Torchwick then spun his cane on the crook of his finger as he waited the split second it took for his cane to reload, in a show of bravado; when Cecilia swung her blade, Torchwick blocked it, but the weight of the sword forced him to slide against the floor just a bit before his foot finally built up enough friction with the concrete to stop him, and he pushed her away easily.

When Cecilia regained her footing, Torchwick was already aiming his cane at her again for another shot, and with a mere fraction of a second left, her claymore went up in a blaze of blue fire as she created an ice wall just before he fired. Although, the wall did block in the shot, it was too thin, there being too short a span in which to build up an effective barrier to an explosive round, and the blast forced her back nonetheless.

Haiiden caught her with a puff as she flew back into him, and he pushed her roughly back up onto her feet, to which she turned back and nodded. Something finally connected inside Torchwick's mind, and he lifted a finger into the air so as to make his point.

"I remember you now!" He said out loud, which made everyone freeze, especially Neo, as she looked back at him in confusion. Even Zed looked back with his eyes were narrowed at Torchwick.

"You were that little pup back in the White Fang all those years ago! You do know, Adam is really cross about your leaving?" Torchwick said with a grin.

"So now you know why I am after you?" Zed asked, still keeping low as he expected Neo to take advantage of the distraction, but she sat on a crate with her parasol open as she stared at the two.

"Hmmm, not really, no," Torchwick replied.

"I am here to make you pay for what you did to the White Fang!" Zed exclaimed.

"What did I do?" Torchwick asked, with a confused look.

"You ruined everything! Poisoned everyone, especially Adam with your promises of Faunus supremacy!" Zed yelled out.

"You think that was me?" Torchwick asked, almost amused at the idea. "Kid, you probably did not know him as well as you thought. All I did was just gave him that tiny. Little. Push."

Zed growled as he rushed towards Torchwick again, his karambit raised to shoulder height as he then swung for Torchwick's neck, but missed as his target dodged out of the way. When he turned for a follow up attack, he saw Neo advancing towards him and she had already closed the distance between the two.

Her arm was pulled back, ready to thrust her blade at Zed, but she was blocked by Haiiden with an underhanded swing of his sword, the two blades grinding against each other; Haiiden guided the blade over his head, before bringing his sword arm in close and spinning to swing at her, which she blocked with her parasol and guided the blow away, but Zed finished the attack by taking advantage of her opening and swinging his karambit.

Like glass shattering, her body broke into pieces, which caught Zed and Haiiden by surprise, until a flash of pink struck them and sent them slamming onto the floor. Haiiden was the first to get up, but was quickly knocked away again by an explosive shot from Torchwick, who took advantage between Cecilia's swings.

As Zed tried to get up, a foot pressed against his chest and kept him on the floor, and the blade from Neo's parasol aimed at his throat. Cecilia and Haiiden froze, not wanting to give her any prompting to run it through his neck while Torchwick clapped his hands and walked towards Zed.

"Well, that was fun, but there has been more than enough excitement for me for tonight," Torchwick said, smiling as he knew he had Zed where he wanted him, and if anyone tried to move, he would be dead.

"I wonder how glad Adam would be if he knew that I had killed you," Torchwick muttered, loud enough for only Zed to hear him and Neo pulled her arm back, ready to thrust.

"No!" Haiiden yelled and was just about to run, until a loud crack rang through the air and sparks flew as something hit Neo's parasol, sending it spinning to the ground.

Everyone was left frozen in place, except for Neo, who stepped off Zed, wondering who it was, but HAVC already knew what had happened.

Fifty yards away, Vaughn felt, more than saw, the steam expelled from the ejection breach in the side of his rifle, and heard the spent cartridge ping against the railing upon which he was resting his rifle. The next round was automatically loaded, and Vaughn was careful not to make too much movement, lest he be spotted, even from this distance.

Neo quickly went to reach for her parasol, but another crack rang through the air again, and with a loud whistle as a Dust round flew past her and hit her parasol again, sending it tumbling even farther away.

Upon realizing an outside interference was at work, some of the White Fang soldiers jumped down from the catwalks, ready to attack the team, until they were quickly taken out by non-lethal gunfire in burst mode, which knocked them down, the pyralis coating the rock-salt tips leaving them unconscious on the ground.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Zed kicked Neo in the shins, which forced her onto the ground and he quickly got up; knowing that this was his final opportunity to catch him, Zed rushed in towards Torchwick, but was tripped by Neo as he ran past her.

"Catch!" Torchwick exclaimed, as he kicked up her parasol and she caught it and she leapt from the ground, high into the air, and used the hook of her weapon to catch Torchwick's arm, and they teleported away.

"No!" Zed exclaimed, his eyes widened in surprise and fear as he realized that his target was now gone.

"Zed, we have to go, now!" Haiiden yelled out, as gunfire began to rain down on them from above but was blocked by Cecilia's ice walls, which allowed them to escape.

Anyone who was foolish enough to chase the trio was immediately knocked out by Vaughn, who was panting as he kept firing round after round, and taking quick shots at the pursuers. Once they were in the clear, Vaughn quickly got up and went for the ladder, sliding down it before he too made his escape.

* * *

Once they were far enough away, HAVC stopped to take a breath, Haiiden calling the police, while Zed fell to his knees.

"We had him…" Zed muttered.

"Zed, I am sorry," Cecilia replied, with Haiiden nodding as he waited for the dispatch operator to pick up. Then Zed leaned back a bit, took a deep breath, and screamed as his eyes burned orange again as he started to punch down into the concrete; first it cracked, then it turned into a hole, then into a crater and only grew larger with each punch.

"WE HAD HIM!" Zed screamed.

* * *

 **(Also, sorry if the fight scenes seemed a bit rushed too; its not easy to write fight scenes that have more than one participant at a time, while also keeping it detailed. Too detailed, and it would just be walls of texts, details is better saved for one on one fights. :))**


	25. Vol 2: Chapter 8

( **Sorry for the long Hiatus. I had to get rid of some poisonous thoughts but now I am ready to start writing again. Be warned, my writing might be off as it has been a long time since I wrote anything, plus this chapter is not Beta'd by my normal Beta, so that might also be noticeable.)**

0-RWBY-0

" _Goodbye._ " Adam remembered, as he sat alone behind his desk inside of his tent deep within the Forever Fall Forest; it was the only time where he could relax, free from the stresses of leadership but even then, he found no rest.

Two of his closest friends, people who had supported him from the beginning, had suddenly left him.

On the table, rested his mask which was used to obscure his eyes and next to it was a copy of the "Third Crusade," a novel which he had written; and was used as the White Fang's manifest.

He eyed the mask as he remembered that they represented the Faunus' plight and their continued persecution despite equal rights under the law. The idea that they were still somehow considered less than humans.

He examined the features on the mask, which was bony white with red accents which was meant to mimic the appearance of the Grimm. The masks had a second meaning, it was meant to represent how humanity viewed them: as monsters.

So, they wore them as a symbol of irony, that if the humans were to view them as monsters, then they would embody the appearance of a monster, which made Adam grip at the armrests of his seat tightly.

" _How could they leave_?" He thought, standing up slowly as he paced back and forth behind his table. " _Don't they see this was the only way? Peace did not work as our were voices ignored and silenced!"_

Adam seethed with anger, his nostrils flared and his hands tightened into fists, and he would occasionally glance back at the book and his mask.

" _So, what if there were a few casualties? It was to be expected, it can't be helped… But we must continue show them our resolve, our commitment! We will not be relegated to second class citizens!"_

He stopped and for a moment he glanced back at his mask one more time and it slowly began to lose its irony.

" _We are not monsters_." He rationalized. " _But I understand that sometimes you need one_."

There was a calm, and for a moment, Adam cleared his mind as his hand slowly went for his sword. He always preferred surprise, only drawing his sword for a quick cut, but this time he slowly drew it and held it in his hand.

He paused for a moment, his mind blank as he stared at his mask; as if in a trance, he raised his sword into the air and without thinking, he began to bring it down onto the mask.

"Sir!" Adam heard and he froze, his sword stopped just inches away from the mask.

He blinked a few times as he reemerged from his daze, dizzy, as if he had just woken up suddenly from a really bad dream. He sheathed his sword and turned away from the flaps that acted like doors to his tent.

The only indication that they were opened was the small ray of light that illuminated the tent slightly.

"Torchwick is here." Adam recognized the low voice of his lieutenant, Bane.

"Noted," Adam replied, without turning to face him. Bane nodded lightly, and immediately shut the flaps to the tent and Adam could hear footsteps that began to fade away.

He took a deep breath, the urge to strike the mast had left him but now another feeling had replaced it. He wasn't sure what, but it did not matter to him as he reached forward and picked up the mask, rubbing his thumb over the slits that allowed him to see through it before placing it over his face.

He stepped out of the tent and paused for a moment to take in the sight. All around him were other members of the White Fang, other Faunus that were fed up with their mistreatment and volunteered to join to fight against their oppressors.

Each one worked on their respective tasks, but despite them feeling like they were at war, there was a very lighthearted aura around the area. Everyone was among friends and nobody had to hide themselves from one another.

Some laughed as they joked, some enjoying a meal together as they reminisced. However, the happiness seemed to disappear as he again noticed Bane who stood with his arms crossed.

"What does he want this time?" Adam asked as he approached Bane.

"He's here to report on their progress; the move to Mountain Glenn is going well," Bane replied.

"He really couldn't wait until later to report?" Adam asked with a scoff.

"There was a minor hiccup, one that he wanted to report to you personally," Bane continued. If it weren't for the mask, he would have noticed Adam roll his eyes before he then shook his head.

"Let's get this over with, he may be an ally, but I'm not in the mood to tolerate him for too long," Adam finished, and with his hand on the sheath of his sword, he began to make his way to Torchwick, who was forced to wait outside the camp. As he made his way through the camp, he began to examine it yet again, noticing that the other tents were small and light. Setting them up was easy, as they had to relocate on a regular basis, as they never made a permanent home anywhere, as they were always being hunted by the other Kingdoms.

So far, his operations in the Forever Fall forest has served him well. This far outside of the Kingdoms proved perfect cover, as not much of it was explored and the concentration of Grimm was too high to allocate too many men to search for them.

"Sir!" A mesh of voices stopped Adam in his tracks as he turned his gaze to a group of masked grunts; from the looks of it they were fresh recruits and each of them stood straight and saluted him.

"This is not the army, no need to salute me," Adam replied as waited for them to lower their hands, which they did but slowly. Once they had relaxed, Adam nodded his approval and continued through the camp. Waved and greeted those who stopped to meet him and for a moment he felt pride swell inside him, but it didn't last too long.

The pressures of leadership weighed heavily on him again, as did the thoughts of their previous leader on his mind; he resented this man, believed that his peaceful protests did nothing to further their cause. Adam eventually challenged his leader on this point alongside two of his 'friends' who would eventually abandon him: Blake and Anders.

Soon enough, their previous leader, a Faunus by the name of Ghira, stepped down from his position and returned to his home Menagerie and from what Adam last heard, is now the chieftain of its people.

Despite his supposed weakness, Adam still felt admiration for Ghira, as he was the one who founded the White Fang. However, his relations with the humans proved fruitless and his continued friendships with them disgusted most of the other Faunus who followed him.

"Sir!" Another voice hadcalled out, this time a small Faunus girl jumped in front of him as she looked up at him gleefully.

"Hey there, Sanuye," Adam said with a smile as he beckoned for her to follow.

"I just wanted to report that the mission was a success." Sanuye replied as she proceeded to follow behind Adam, just to his left. Adam remembered when she first came to them, angry but optimistic, ready to fight for her people.

"I was wary about letting you join us; I don't want to be responsible for sending someone so young out to their death. I'm glad you have proved me wrong," Adam replied, to which the little faunus blushed.

"Thank you, sir, I promise I won't let you down," Sanuye replied.

"I know you won't; go and rest up, you earned it," Adam concluded.

"I was hoping if you were available to chat again sir," Sanuye asked, hopping in front of him and he noticed that her eyes were glistening.

"A little later, ok? I have some business I have to attend to," Adam replied.

"Oh, is it anything to do with those three humans waiting outside?" Sanuye asked.

"Go," Adam replied and simply pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Oh, yes sir. Thank you, sir!" Sanuye replied as she ran past him and out of sight.

"The others look up to you sir," Bane said as he watched her disappear. "Thought you should know that."

Perhaps he did need to know that. For a long time, he had been struggling, the sting of betrayal lingered in him as the thought of how Blake and Anders left him suddenly and seemingly without warning. He questioned himself ever since, if how they were to obtain their goal was right.

However, as he looked onto the many optimistic faces that surrounded him, he found his answer; how they achieved it did not matter, as long as he achieved his goal, and his goal was right, and he would not fail like his predecessor did.

"Wait." Adam stopped and Bane halted as well. "What did she mean by 'three humans'? I know about the mute, but who's the third?"

"That creep from last time," Bane replied with disdain in his voice as he then spat on the ground. Adam gritted his teeth and stalked to the entrance of the camp a bit quicker.

"Ah, finally!" Torchwick exclaimed as Adam came into view; next to Torchwick stood Neo and just a few feet away, stood Ash.

"Is this how you treat your allies? By making them wait outside?" Torchwick continued, clearly frustrated.

"There are a lot of Faunus here with some animosity towards humans; it was for your protection," Adam replied. "Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"You want to go first?" Torchwick asked Ash.

"Id rather speak to Mr. Taurus privately, so please, you first," Ash said with a smirk.

"Well," Torchwick said as he twirled the crook of his cane around his finger. "I wanted to report that the move is going well, and the last of the Dust is making its way to Mountain Glenn as we speak."

"Bane has already informed me of that, but I was told there was something else you wanted to tell me," Adam continued, his gaze fixated to Torchwick.

"Well, I thought that you should know that that pup… gah- I forget his name, the kid with the orange hair that used to be your entourage was in Vale a few days ago," Torchwick explained, to which Adam quirked a brow, hidden behind his mask.

"How do you know this?" Bane spoke up, disgruntled and angry as his voice reverberated in his mask.

"Well, he came along with some company to say hello as he tried to stop our little shindig," Torchwick continued. "The kid had some spunk, I'll give him that."

"Company," Adam repeated as he thought for a moment. "Did this 'company' have white hair?"

"Oh yeah, he seemed really fond of him," Torchwick replied. "Why? He important?"

"He's a nobody," Adam replied, stalking towards Torchwick, his eyes fixated on him while Torchwick stood unphased. "Did you kill them?"

"Sadly, no, they had the jump on us and made it difficult," Torchwick responded.

"At least we know where he is," Bane commented, his fists tightened. "Send me to Vale; we shouldn't have to deal with deserters and traitors."

"Not now," Adam replied before he gazed at Ash. "Bane, I want you to accompany Torchwick to Mountain Glenn. Make sure there are no more complications, and if there is any unexpected company, I expect you to deal with it."

There was silence, but then Bane replied with a huff and turned to gather his belongings while an entourage of five soldiers followed behind him.

"Thank you, even if you couldn't kill them, this info is useful" Adam said to Torchwick.

"Anytime," Torchwick said with a grin, which disappeared as he turned to face Neo and he rolled his rolls. Neo hooked her arm around Torchwick's and they teleported out of view.

Once they were left alone, Adam turned his attention to Ash, who was already staring at him, smiling.

"Nice to see you again," Ash said whimsically.

"What do you want?" Adam replied with a bit of ice in his voice. Torchwick was someone he could deal with, but his distrust of Ash made dealing with him much less bearable.

"Now, now; I thought we were friends… How about a bit of privacy? I would love to sample your hospitality," Ash insisted, as he beckoned towards the camp, which Adam, with a huff, shook his head and turned back to his tent; with Ash following right behind him.

As they walked through the camp, the jovial and optimistic atmosphere was replaced with emptiness. The camp went quiet as the grunts and soldiers watched as Adam escorted his guest through the camp. Some watched with curiosity, while others watched with hate which Ash noticed, and smiled back at them.

Adam stepped aside, as he opened up the flap to his tent, allowing Ash access and without hesitation Ash stepped inside.

"Impressive," Ash remarked, as he examined the tent. Strangely, it was quite homey, with a rug in the center with ornaments strewn about; a bookshelf and a casing with an ornamental sword. In the center, on top of the rug, was a large table with the map of Remnant and its 4 main continents. Flags pinned to different points on the map, which signified fellow White Fang hideouts, as well as key strategic points to which to attack.

"Speak your piece," Adam said, as he walked past Ash and sat behind his desk; his arms crossed as he kept his gaze on him.

"I was wondering if you'd heed wise council on where to attack to start off your new 'Faunus War'," Ash spoke.

"We already have a location selected," Adam replied as he leaned forward in his seat, his finger pointing to a flag that situated outside of Vale. Upon further inspection, Ash noticed that it was set right on top of Mountain Glenn.

"We will use the old transit center in Mountain Glenn, and use the railways to smash our way into Vale," Adam continued. "Explosives around the tunnel to allow the Grimm inside and cause as much chaos as possible."

"Oh, that's good," Ash remarked, as he stepped around the table and examined the map. "But that seems insignificant to what I had in mind."

Adam quirked a brow at this comment.

"And you think you can suggest something better?" Adam asked.

"You want to start this war off with a metaphorical BANG! While attacking Vale is a good way to start, you need to aim higher," Ash continued, his grin grew wider as he spoke and while Adam remained unimpressed, he listened none the less. "Beacon."

Adam almost flinched at this suggestion. While he had no love for the Huntsman nor their institutes, he knew that they were vital to securing the well-being of everyone from the forces of the Grimm.

"Beacon? They are of no concern to us. The Councils have practically castrated them with their rules and regulations on how they train their students, as well as their certification," Adam rebutted. "We can attack and we won't have to expect retaliation from them."

"Ah," Ash commented grimly. "But you see, that is where you are wrong."

"Enlighten me," Adam replied, albeit, with a scoff.

"You are aware of what sparked these regulations, yes?" Ash asked.

"The Huntsman fought amongst themselves as they joined sides in the Faunus War," Adam replied quickly and with a bit of ice in his voice. "Do you take me for an idiot?"

"Not at all, I was just now getting to my point," Ash said with a sigh. "See, what the Council would like people to think is that the reason why they took control of the Huntsman academies, is so that they can avoid a situation like this from happening again. The Huntsman are supposed to protect people, a shining beacon of hope for humans and Faunus alike, but to have them fight amongst themselves… it was an embarrassment."

Adam continued to listen attentively, only responding with a wave of his hand.

"But that's not true, they simply don't want the Huntsman to have a will of their own. With these regulations, the Councils and the Huntsman institutes have been effectively made into one entity. You attack Vale, and the Council will instead send their dogs, the Huntsman, after you."

Adam sat silently as he took in this information, the logic seemed sound, but something stuck in the back of his mind that made it seem off.

"While I would like to make a statement, attacking Beacon is not in our best interests; attacking them without provocation will inspire anger from the humans, as well as the Faunus," Adam replied.

"Why do you need provocation?" Ash replied with a laugh, his eyes widened, and a sense of anger and spite that he had kept swelled within him, was suddenly released.

"They were once protectors, but now they are nothing more but glorified mercenaries. Taking odd jobs to satisfy their greed and feeding off the misery of the world," Ash hissed, as he stared into at nothing.

"Now, this is starting to sound personal," Adam remarked; he slowly rose from his seat and began to approach Ash.

"Give me a good reason as to why I should waste the lives of my comrades to attack Beacon," Adam continued. "Why have you come to my camp to suggest an attack on Beacon? What are your reasons for attacking Beacon?"

Ash smiled as he looked at Adam from the corner of his eye, something about him made Adam admire him; his steel resolve, coupled with the ice in his voice made him unlike the other weaker minded people that he has worked with in the past.

He relished the thought of breaking this man.

"My reasons for attacking Beacon are my own," Ash replied.

"Excuse me?!" Adam exclaimed, his hand quickly grasped the handle of his sword, which Ash noticed and the grin on his face gone as he presumed this gesture to be a challenge. "Although my trust for them is small, my trust for your allies as they have proven to be an asset to our cause, but you on the other hand just came out of the ether… I have yet to trust you!"

Ash stood silently as he stared into Adam's eyes.

"And yet, you come into my camp, presume you can tell me anything about strategy and suggest that I willingly throw my men's lives away…" The grip on Adam's sword tightened as he stepped closer and was face to face with Ash. Unphased, Ash just simply looked down at Adam, he did not take this act of aggression lightly, but he simply couldn't strike at Adam; he still had a purpose, and Ash did not want to anger his Master again.

"And when I ask you for your reasons, you keep silent? Every time I meet you, whatever trust I have for you grows less and less," Adam hissed.

Ash closed his eyes and took a deep breath, to which Adam responded by backing away and loosened the grip on his sword, but kept his hand on it.

"Let's just say, that I am tired of people at the top keeping people down and using tragedy for their own gain," Ash replied coldly; the two stared at each other before Adam let out a sigh and back away, his hand fell from his sword.

"At least we have something in common," Adam replied. "Bane!"

The sound of footfall on grass grew closer, and a disgruntled Bane opened the flaps to Adam's tent.

"Sir," Bane said.

"Escort our guest out of the camp," Adam ordered, and with a silent nod, Bane entered and attempted to grab Ash by the shoulder but he simply jerked away and walked past Bane as he turned away.

"No thank you, I can see myself out," Ash said with a smiling face, however, as he stepped out the tent, the smile turned to a frown.

As Ash walked through the camp, he could feel the hateful gazes of the Faunus around him. They so desperately wanted to pounce on him, and Ash really wanted a reason to let loose, and relieve some stress.

He would not be halted, not when they are so close to starting the real phase of their plans and this setback boiled his blood. He desperately needed an outlet…

But he had recently heard that a special "friend" was on the nearby island of Patch, off the coast of Vale. He smiled, a burning sensation emerged in his eyes and he felt light as he started to run. So, he decided to pay them a visit… the thought of which caused him to go into a laughing fit as he began to run faster and faster.

0-RWBY-0

"So, that's what happened," Celise replied as she leaned forward onto the dining table.

"Zed was devastated, he just ran off and our captain went after him," Vaughn remarked with a hushed voice. "Neither of them have come back yet."

His sister, Cecilia, slowly picking at her food as she listened, while looking on in disgust as Raine was eating messily right next to her.

"This explains why he hasn't even called just to say "good morning"," Byeli replied, her ears flattened as she sulked in her seat.

"Don't worry Byeli, I have seen this side of him before. He will bounce back," Cecilia joined in, as she decided she can no longer eat her food and simply pushed the dish away. Only for it to be taken by Raine.

"Besides," Vaughn replied and then sipped from a cup of coffee. "Our captain is probably with him now."

"Why aren't you with them?" Nadira asked, her soft voice made it almost difficult for anyone to hear her.

"He is not as responsive to us as he is with him," Vaughn continued, as he set the cup down. "It is best that we just let the both of them sort things out."

A silence falls onto the table as everyone thought upon the reveal of HAVCs plans the night before. How they tried to apprehend Torchwick, and ultimately failed.

"Anyways," Celise finally spoke up. "Onto a new topic: the students from the other Academies have started to arrive."

"I keep forgetting how close we are getting to the Vytal Festival," Byeli replied gleefully as her tailed wagged in the air.

"I guess it's time to scout out who are the potential opponents for the tournament is," Cecilia said, as she turned her body to look at the few students who had already arrived, with more to come in the days that would follow.

"Hey, watch it!" Someone in the dining hall exclaimed but it went unnoticed by the twins and CNBR.

"Speaking of the tournament, will anyone in HAVC be fighting?" Celise asked, a grin grew on her face as she then cracked her knuckles.

"Every one of us are. We have already sent in our applications," Vaughn replied. "We will be going over strategies soon. Unless we go with the rules from the last Vytal Festival."

"That's right," Cecilia replied. "Either we fight as a team, or we will fight solo. In the end, it will determine who is the best fighter in Remnant."

"Seems like we will have some stiff competition, I have seen a few of the teams from Mistral, and one of the team members was huge! I would say bigger than Yatsuhashi!" Nadira exclaimed, to which Byeli curiously twitched her tail.

"Was he wearing black armor?" Byeli asked.

"Yeah, he was. You are from Mistral; do you know who he is?" Nadira asked.

"'Mountain Glenn'," Byeli replied with a shudder.

"Excuse me?" Celise replied, quirking a brow.

"His real name is Gregor, however, he earned that nickname due to how big he was," Byeli replied, but as she continued, she began to cower.

"You sure it wasn't because of how hard he fell?" Raine jumped in. Everyone responded by glaring at him. "What, it's a reference to how Mountain Glenn fell, you know?"

"No, he was brutal in how he fought. He surprised everyone in his first tournament, since we all thought he would be so slow and sluggish, especially since the sword he carried was just as big as him," Byeli continued, but was interrupted as a crash from a dish nearby fell to the floor.

"But he was quick," Byeli said, shaking off her interruption. "Every time he hit something with his sword, it almost sent his opponent flying through the air."

"Sounds fun," Cecilia replied with a smirk.

"Please don't play this off, Cecilia," Byeli pleaded. "He always came in at a close second against Pyrrha in their tournaments. Every time."

Cecilia simply shrugged it off, but then a handful of mashed potato struck her in the cheek which made everyone freeze, and not just because the area around suddenly began to go cold.

Cecilia's eyes began to glow an ice blue and she slowly stood up and Byeli flattened her ears.

"Ok, what the hell?" Cecilia screamed, but suddenly, Nora landed in front of her and placed her hands under the table. It was then, that Cecilia froze, as she noticed a grin that went from ear to ear on Nora's face; and she knew what that meant.

"Can I borrow this?" Nora asked whimsically, as she then flipped the table over which sent Vaughn and CNBR flying and knocked Cecilia to the floor.

She got up as quickly as she can, knowing that something fierce was stirring if Nora was in this mood and she ran for the door.

As food began to fly, everyone was making their way to the doors, which was already open as two boys were about to enter, but were taken aback by the oncoming stampede of students; trying to escape the now ensuing food fight.

0-RWBY-0

Haiiden groaned as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger and took a deep breath as he stared up at the ceiling.

The haze slowly left his sight as he woke and he blinked a couple times. He turned his head to look at Zed; he laid on his bed, out cold after his night of rampage just outside of Vale.

He had no trouble finding Zed, as the falling trees were a telltale sign of where he was; and he burned the brightest when he was like this, making it easier to find him.

He got up and slowly reached for Zed's shoulder and shook him lightly and he stirred, then with a groan, he sat up.

"Ugh, my head…" Zed complained as his temples both hands and winced as the morning light shone brightly, blinding him and worsening his headache.

"Yeah, sorry," Haiiden replied as sat down next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got bulldozed by a Boarbatusk," Zed replied. "I don't remember anything."

Haiiden grimaced lightly.

"You went outside of Vale for a bit. Knocking down trees and stuff," Haiiden replied with a sigh and rubbed his cheek lightly; noticing a bit of soreness from it.

"Did I do that?" Zed asked as he looked on in horror, inching closer to Haiiden.

"Do wha-?" Haiiden replied, but then remembered that when he finally found Zed, he approached him slowly to get his attention. Turned out to be a bad idea, as Zed immediately went into high alert.

Quite a hard hit, which almost knocked him out right there.

Zed, winced and hid his face in his hands, rocking back and forth on the bed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" he whispered, to which Haiiden replied by quickly placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, umm… don't worry about it. I forgot to never come up from behind when you are like this," he continued with the best smile that he could muster. "Besides, not the worst hit I took."

"This isn't funny mate," Zed said as he leaned his head back with a groan. "You are the last person I would want to hurt."

"I know, Zed. You are not the same like that," Haiiden replied, his smile gone.

"It is why I hate this. I get angry and then I become 'that'. I can't help it," Zed finished and hung his head as they both sat silently.

Before long, the door swung open and Cecilia then stomped into the room, covered in chunks of mashed potato, as well as food. Haiiden watched curiously as Vaughn likewise entered the room, also covered in food.

Vaughn quietly closed the door and was the first to notice Zed and Haiiden, who then gave a silent nod as his sister paced back and forth; oblivious to the two.

"What the hell was that?" Cecilia asked, looking over herself and whimpered slightly as she noticed how dirty her uniform was.

"Seems to me that it was a food fight," Vaughn replied and stood straight and at attention.

"I know what it was Vaughn! But…" Cecilia replied but then stopped herself, all of a sudden at a loss for words then sighed in defeat. From the corner of her eye, she finally noticed Zed, who was leaning forward and covering his face; with Haiiden holding him close but stared at the two with his mouth gapped.

"Shut up," Cecilia said, pre-emptively.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Haiiden said defensively as Cecilia then huffed, and stomped towards their bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Vaughn then joined the two as he sat silently on his bed across from them, the only thing that broke the silence was the showerhead running in the bathroom.

After a few minutes, Cecilia stepped out and switched places with Vaughn and began to change silently. Her breaths were audible as her nostrils were still flaring but before long she simmered down.

"How are you, Zed?" Cecilia asked as she put on a fresh uniform.

"I don't want to talk about it," Zed replied bitterly and Cecilia simply nodded.

"Remember Zed, today is the day we greet the students from the other Academies, we have to get ready and really, you look like hell," Haiiden said with a chuckle.

"Nah, its ok, you go first," Zed said under his breath and Haiiden simply patted him in the shoulder lightly before he stood up. Soon after, Vaughn exited the bathroom and took Haiiden's place.

"You smell terrible," Vaughn commented as he caught on to the scent of alcohol. "Best to wash up really well, or Ms. Goodwitch will not be happy."

"Vaughn," Zed called.

"Yes?" Vaughn replied.

"I'm sorry," Zed continued.

"For?" Vaughn asked.

"About before," Zed spat out, which made Vaughn hesitate again.

"I am confused. Please, elaborate," Vaughn asked.

"You said to give the manifests to the police. You were right," Zed continued. "I should have given it to Lipesce and let them take care of it and now, because of me, Torchwick got away. There was no justice for what he did," Zed finished.

"It was personal," Cecilia interjected and Zed looked up at her.

"I have to agree," Vaughn continued. "The White Fang was your life. Everyone can attest that it started out benevolent but then turned into something sinister. To take out the very thing that poisoned it is understandable."

"It doesn't matter now," Zed spat out. "He got away; it no longer means anything."

The twins thought on this and they turned to each other, before averting their gaze. Then the door slowly opened, and Haiiden stepped out, refreshed.

"Your turn," Haiiden said calmly, and waited for Zed as he sat quietly for a few moments. Before long, he mustered the nerve to get up, but walked slowly with his shoulders hunched and head low. Once he entered the bathroom, he closed the door shut and locked it.

"Sir, I am worried about him." Zed heard from the other side of the door.

"I know, me too."

"You shouldn't worry about me." Zed thought as he turned the handle on the shower.

Zed stared at himself in the mirror in his team's bathroom. It was him, he thought, and he was a failure. He failed his fellow Faunus in the White Fang, he failed even more when he let them change. He put his friends at risk with a fool hardy mission and then took it out on his friend.

The longer he stared, the angrier he got and his eyes began to flash from its normal green, to his enraged orange.

But then, there was a knock.

"Zed, buddy, come on, it's almost time. We don't want Glynda to start telling us off in front of the other students." Zed heard Haiiden say through the door and when he blinked, he noticed that his eyes stayed green. He took a deep breath, and stood straight as he began to look over his look. First, his sleeveless jacket, his orange tie and of course his hair, which he ruffled to make it just a tad bit messy.

However, something still felt wrong…

As he looked at himself one more time, he realized what it was, and as he mustered up the strength, he smiled his usual cheesy grin.

"It's as if nothing happened." He thought.

0-RWBY-0

"Ok, so, any idea who we will be looking after today?" Haiiden asked as he walked down the halls of Beacon with his team.

"Hopefully Atlas, I am curious to see what they have in store," Cecilia responded.

"I heard that they will be a bit late," Vaughn replied.

"Ugh…" Haiiden groaned. "For such a high-class society, you'd think they would stick to a schedule."

"Who cares?" Zed replied, which caused everyone to stop and look at him worryingly, but stopped to see a grin on his face. "As long as there are ladies, it shouldn't matter.

He walked past everyone as they stood frozen, watching as he passed by.

"You sure he is alright?" Cecilia asked, but Haiiden stood silently before he followed behind Zed.

In the school's dining hall, which Glynda had quickly repaired after a recent food fight, were the senior teams awaiting instructions as they were going to greet the arriving students. HAVC entered through the front doors, only to be greeted by an eager Velvet.

"Come on you guys," she said, waving for HAVC to join CFVY at the front of the stage.

"Any idea what we will be expecting?" Vaughn asked.

"Well, if you were here earlier, then you would have heard Glynda explain that today, a large bulk of the students will be arriving," Coco replied. "The ones that we met before are nothing compared to the amount coming by today."

"I see," Haiiden replied as huddled his team along with CFVY. "Any specific Academy you want to greet personally?"

"You don't have to worry about that," Glynda said, suddenly appearing from a door beside the stage in the dining hall. "Because I will be assigning you which Academies you will be escorting this afternoon."

She stopped in front of CFVY and HAVC, looking over them slowly, to which from Haiiden's perspective, it looked like she was examining them.

"You seem nervous Ms. Goodwitch," Zed said with a grin.

"Hosting the Festival is a privilege," Glynda retorted. "Everything must be in perfect order as we welcome the neighboring Academies."

"It shows that we take things seriously," Glynda continued, but then narrowed her gaze onto a smiling Zed. "As should you."

"You really think so?" Another voice interjected, and from behind Glynda, Ozpin stepped into view.

"Most, if not all of the students are still children to some respects. I am sure they will feel more welcome if fellow students who are just like them are the ones who are greeting them. Not mindless robots," Ozpin finished and looked over the two teams with a smile. "Just act as you would normally. I am certain they will enjoy your company, and be grateful for showing them hospitality."

"Yes, headmaster," the two teams replied.

"It will be a lot busier today than the other days, students," Glynda said, as she inputted a few commands onto her Scroll, sending messages and instructions to each individual member of both HAVC and CFVY.

"Your assignments are set. Meet the students as they land."

0-RWBY-0

"So, Haven Academy," Haiiden commented as he and Byeli walked down the hallways leading to the school's main entrance. For such an occasion, the other Academies won't be landing at the school's hover-port. Instead, they would be landing right in front of the school.

"You think there would be anyone you would recognize?" Haiiden asked.

"Maybe not," Byeli replied disheartingly. "The only people I know were in show business like me."

Haiiden then pushed open the front doors, only to see the group of students who have already landed. He watched in amazement at the number of students, and he was told more would show up later but that this was the bulk of them.

"Ok, so let's get started… I will see you later then, Byeli," Haiiden called out over the crowd as he walked away towards a group led by a dark-skinned woman with dirty blonde hair. Leaving Byeli standing nervously alone as she pondered what to do next.

"So, you are here." Byeli heard and she recognized the voice, which only sent shivers down her spine. She slowly turned, her eyes closed as she prayed that she was only hearing things and opened them to see a giant black figure in front of him.

"As someone who was born in Mistral, I thought you would be representing Haven for the tournament." The giant of a man named Gregor 'Mountain Glenn' said as he stood over Byeli, almost twice as big as her; he didn't even lower his head as he glared down at her.

Byeli stammered as she looked up at 'Glenn', and she was reminded of how he got that name.

"Making friends Byeli?"

"Eep," Byeli squeaked and turned to see the rest of her team being led by Celise as they came to meet with her. They stopped, and Celise looked over 'Glenn' and smirked.

"Why, hey there big guy," Celise said with a wink.

"Where is Nikos?" 'Glenn' asked as he ignored Celise.

"I don't know," Byeli quickly stammered out, to which Celise noticed her slight discomfort and her smirk vanished.

"As I see that she didn't have the integrity to represent her homeland either," 'Glenn' replied with a huff and pushed past the team, leaving Byeli in a crumpled mess as she fell to her knees.

"Wow… he really is something," Celise muttered under her breath and turned to Byeli and picked her back up onto her feet. "You really weren't kidding him."

"Every time I meet him I feel like I am going to die," Byeli whimpered.

"Ignore him, they act tough but he doesn't seem to be all that," Celise said with a huff. "I got your back, ok?"

0-RWBY-0

Haiiden shut the door behind him, a smile played across his face as he made his way down the hall as he remarked upon the team, _ABRN_. Such a diverse team, from Arslan's stoic nature, to the outgoing Reese but most of all, and perhaps what Haiiden couldn't help but notice, was how brightly they all burned.

It reminded him of a feeling that he felt forgotten, and maybe it definitely was a good idea to stay in Beacon. Meeting new people who would probably give him new experiences and lessons so that he would grow.

Haiiden made his way back to the school's courtyard, with the help of Yatsuhashi, as well as other seniors, they had help the visiting teams to their rooms, and he knew that there were more to come

"Ah, the 'soon-to-be-Hero'." The comment made Haiiden jump as he then looked both ways, before he turned around.

Standing behind him, clad in armor that glistened in the sunlight and wearing a sky-blue dress, the girl that he had met in Mistral, stood before him and smiled.


End file.
